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Top Kurdish Militant Is Among Three Killed in Paris Top Kurdish Militant Is Among Three Killed in Paris
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PARIS — Three Kurdish women, including a founding member of a leading militant group fighting for autonomy in Turkey, were shot to death at a Kurdish institute in central Paris, police officials said on Thursday, potentially jeopardizing efforts to negotiate a cease-fire in the decades-old conflict. PARIS — The three Kurdish women were murdered, two with bullets to the head, the third with a shot to the stomach. It was a carefully planned killing in a nondescript building in central Paris.
News reports identified the women as Sakine Cansiz, a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known by the initials P.K.K.; Fidan Dogan, the head of the institute and a representative of the Kurdistan National Congress, an umbrella group of Kurdish organizations in Europe; and Leyla Soylemez, a young Kurdish activist. When the bodies were found early Thursday, the office was locked from the outside. Three bullet casings were found on the floor. Blood was splattered on the door.
The women’s bodies were discovered shortly before 2 a.m. on Thursday, according to Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, who added that the antiterror department of the prosecutor’s office would oversee the investigation. She confirmed that Ms. Dogan, born in 1984, and Ms. Soylemez, born in 1988, were victims in the killings, but declined to confirm the identity of the third woman. One of the dead women was a founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party — or P.K.K. — a Kurdish separatist group that has waged a guerrilla war against Turkey since 1984. The other two were Kurdish activists who may well have died because they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Asked about the motive, she said, “No hypothesis can be excluded at this stage.” There were competing theories over who was responsible, and outraged Kurds poured into the street in Paris, blaming Turkey. Officials there said the killings were probably a dispute among Kurds, perhaps intended to derail new peace talks between the government and the P.K.K.’s jailed leader, or to settle a score.
Visiting the crime scene on Thursday, Interior Minister Manuel Valls called the shootings “intolerable” and said they were “without doubt an execution.” The violence at the Kurdish Institute of Paris, in the city’s 10th Arrondissement near the Gare du Nord railroad station, seemed to open a new chapter in the often murky annals of Kurdish exile life. But these were theories. The evidence spoke only to a well-planned job.
In recent years, Turkey has sought to clamp down on the activities of Kurdish activists outside Turkey. Sizable exile communities in France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark have established civic and media organizations that Kurdish officials say are a refuge from Turkish censorship. “No hypothesis can be excluded at this stage” about the motive, said Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office. Visiting the crime scene on Thursday, Interior Minister Manuel Valls called the killings “intolerable” and said they were “without doubt an execution.”
Turkey has accused some of the institutions of being fronts for separatist activities or terrorism. The shootings took place in the gritty 10th District of the city, near the Gare du Nord railroad station, in a working-class immigrant neighborhood of Turkish kebab shops and African hair salons. The killings prompted outrage, raised fears of violent revenge violence and opened a new chapter in the often murky annals of Kurdish exile life.
Analysts in Turkey said it seemed to be no coincidence that the killings had come just days after reports of peace negotiations involving Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the P.K.K., who was incarcerated in 1999 in a fortresslike prison on the western Turkish island of Imrali. The bodies were found around 2 a.m. inside the Kurdish Information Center, which is used to promote Kurds’ political and cultural agendas. Someone would have to have known the office was there; there was no plaque outside. And the front door could only be opened with a digital code or if the occupants buzzed someone in, the manager of the center, Leon Edart, told reporters.
While Kurdish militants blamed Turkey for the shootings in Paris, Turkish officials said the women could have been killed because of feuding within the P.K.K. That possibility led to many questions. Did the women know their killer? Did the killer slip into the center behind a welcomed guest? An organization called the Federation of Kurdish Associations in France, representing many of the estimated 150,000 Kurdish exiles in the country, added to the intrigue, saying in a statement that the victims might have been killed with weapons equipped with silencers.
Huseyin Celik, the deputy chairman of the ruling party in Turkey, said the episode seemed to be part of an internal dispute but offered no evidence to support the claim. “Why anyone would want to do this is unclear,” said Rusen Werdi, a Kurdish lawyer who knew two of the women. “It was an ambush.”
“Whenever in Turkey we reach the stage of saying, ‘Friend, give up this business, let the weapons be silent,’ whenever a determination emerges on this, such incidents happen,” Mr. Celik told reporters in Ankara. “Is there one P.K.K.? I’m not sure of that.” The bodies, she said, were discovered after friends became concerned about the women because cellphone calls had gone unanswered and none of them had returned home.
French police officials said a murder investigation had been opened. The bodies and three shell casings were found in a room at the institute. The women were all said to have held Turkish passports. Ms. Thibault-Lecuivre said the antiterrorism department of the prosecutor’s office would oversee the investigation.
The P.K.K. has been fighting a bitter guerrilla war against the Turkish authorities for almost three decades to reinforce demands for greater autonomy. The conflict, which has claimed 40,000 lives, is fueled by competing notions of national identity rooted in the founding of modern Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. The authorities confirmed the identities of two of the victims: Leyla Soylemeza, a young Kurdish activist, and Fidan Dogan, the head of the Kurdish Information Center and a representative of the Kurdistan National Congress. News media reports said the third woman was Sakine Cansiz, a founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union have labeled the P.K.K. a terrorist organization, but sympathy for the group and its goals remains widespread in many towns in Turkey’s rugged southeast. But for all the intrigue, Ms. Werdi said, it appeared that the target was Ms. Cansiz and that the other two victims might well have been killed because they were with her.
Restive Kurdish minorities span a broad region embracing areas of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and parts of the former Soviet Union. Regional turmoil in recent years has emboldened Kurdish separatists inspired by the example of the Iraqi Kurds, who control an autonomous zone. Turkey also fears that the civil war in neighboring Syria could strengthen the separatist yearnings of Kurds there, feeding Kurdish activism in Turkey. Ms. Werdi said that at least one of the women had been under surveillance by the French police because of her activism. She said that Ms. Cansiz had been keeping a low profile in recent months, and that it was rare for her to be at the information center.
The killings, which apparently took place Wednesday, inspired hundreds of Kurdish exiles to gather outside the institute on Thursday, chanting, “We are all P.K.K.!” and accusing Turkey of assassinating the three women, abetted by the French president, François Hollande. The P.K.K.  is no stranger to infighting and internal strife. Hurriyet, a Turkish daily newspaper, said Ms. Cansiz was “known for her opposition to the alleged head of the P.K.K.’s armed wing, Syrian citizen Ferman Hussein.”
The bodies were discovered by Kurdish exiles who had become concerned about the whereabouts of the women. Ms. Cansiz had been in Paris since 2007 after the authorities in Germany arrested and briefly held her before turning down a Turkish request for her extradition. Kurdish activists said she was very close to Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the P.K.K., who has been in prison since 1999. Ms. Cansiz was imprisoned in Turkey in 1979 and freed in 1991, after which they said she became active in the organization. She played a leading role garnering financial and political support for the Kurdish cause in Europe.
The victims had been alone in the building on Wednesday and could not be reached by telephone in the late afternoon, according to Leon Edart, who manages the center. Mr. Edart, speaking to French reporters, suggested that the victims opened the door to their killer or killers. Dorothée Schmid, an expert on Turkey at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, did not rule out that the killings could have been the work of extreme Turkish nationalists, some of whom are virulently opposed to negotiations that would lead to Turkey granting Kurds further rights and autonomy. Turkish analysts and officials have long talked of a “deep state” in Turkey, a group of operatives, linked to the military, thought to have battled perceived enemies since the end of the cold war.
An organization called the Federation of Kurdish Associations in France, representing many of the estimated 150,000 Kurdish exiles in the country, said in a statement that the women might have been killed on Wednesday afternoon with weapons equipped with silencers. The P.K.K. has been fighting a bitter guerrilla war against the Turkish authorities for almost three decades to demand greater autonomy. The conflict, in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed, is fueled by competing notions of national identity that are rooted in the founding of modern Turkey on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923. Kurds account for about 15 million of Turkey’s 74 million people.
The Firat news agency, which is close to the P.K.K., said two of the women had been shot in the head and one in the stomach. Firat quoted Mehmet Ulker, the head of the Kurdish representative group in France, as saying: “A couple of colleagues saw bloodstains at the door. When they broke the door open and entered they saw the three women had been executed.” Turkey, the United States and the European Union have labeled the group a terrorist organization, but sympathy for it and its goals remains widespread in many towns in Turkey’s rugged southeast.
Most of the Kurdish exiles in France are from Turkey. Their presence dates to the mid-1960s, when migrant workers from Turkey began arriving in France. Huseyin Celik, the deputy chairman of the governing party in Turkey, said: “Whenever in Turkey we reach the stage of saying, ‘Friend, give up this business, let the weapons be silent,’ whenever a determination emerges on this, such incidents happen. Is there one P.K.K.? I’m not sure of that.”
The killings came against a complex political backdrop after the Turkish government opened talks with the political wing of the P.K.K. in Oslo last year. The negotiations faltered after a recent surge of violence in southeastern Turkey that prompted complaints from nationalist Turks that the authorities should not talk to the guerrilla fighters. Restive Kurdish minorities live in a broad region that includes Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and parts of the former Soviet Union. Regional turmoil in recent years has emboldened Kurdish separatists, inspired by the example of Iraqi Kurds who control an autonomous zone. Turkey fears that the civil war in neighboring Syria may strengthen the separatist yearnings of Kurds there.
In the absence of any clear-cut military outcome, democracy advocates in Turkey have been pressing for a political settlement that would give greater rights to the Kurds, who account for around 15 million of Turkey’s 74 million people. The Turkish government has introduced a series of measures to improve relations with Kurds, including starting a Kurdish public television channel and introducing private Kurdish-language courses. But Kurdish activists want the rights of minority Kurds to be enshrined in a new constitution. In recent years, Turkey has sought to clamp down on Kurdish activists outside of the country, including in France, Germany, Belgium and Denmark, where Kurds have established sizable communities as well as civic groups and media outlets that Kurdish officials say are a refuge from Turkish censorship. Turkey has accused some of the groups of being fronts for separatists or terrorists.
In a speech on Wednesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said the negotiations were being conducted on the Turkish side by senior intelligence officials. In Paris, the mood was angry and somber as hundreds of Kurds filled the street outside the building where the bodies were found. Police erected barricades. Some people waved Kurdish flags while others chanted, “We are all P.K.K.!” On Thursday evening a single police officer stood guard outside; Six roses, five red and one white, were laid against the door.
While Mr. Ocalan, the P.K.K. leader, has a powerful following among the rebels, he was denied a role in earlier political talks. But, analysts say, Turkish officials are hoping that his participation in the current negotiations, authorized by the state, has enhanced the prospects of a breakthrough.

Scott Sayare contributed reporting from Paris, and Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul.

Turkish news reports have said the government wants the rebels to lay down their arms without preconditions and send fighters with a record of violence into exile in Europe, leaving other Kurdish representatives to join Turkish political life. But analysts say any further negotiations could be sabotaged by opponents if it appeared that talks were making firm progress.
Sinan Ulgen, a Turkish expert and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, said the most likely explanation was that the killings were the product of factional infighting within the P.K.K. involving more militant and hawkish elements who want to destabilize the talks and derail any peace deal.
“To me these killings are no coincidence,” Mr. Ulgen said by telephone from Istanbul. “They are the first signs that factions are not happy with the peace process and are intent on trying to sabotage a deal.”
Other analysts said the killings could be the work of extreme Turkish nationalists, some of whom oppose negotiations that would lead to Turkey granting Kurds further rights and autonomy.

Dan Bilefsky reported from Paris, Alan Cowell from London and Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul. Scott Sayare contributed reporting from Paris.