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PARIS SHOOTINGS MURDERED KURDISH ACTIVISTS HAD TIES TO GERMANY
AFP / IHLAS NEWS AGENCY
Slain Kurdish activist Sakine Cansiz (L) with Abdullah Öcalan, the
leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in 1995.
The murder of three Kurdish activists in Paris last week remains
a mystery, but SPIEGEL has uncovered details about their ties to
Germany. Two of the women were under investigation by German federal
prosecutors.
Two of the three Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) activists shot to death
last week in Paris were important functionaries within the banned
organization's German wing, and were also under investigation here,
SPIEGEL has learned.
ANZEIGE
The German attorney general was looking into potential criminal
activities by Sakine Cansiz and Leyla Söylemez, who were found murdered
along with a third woman at the Kurdish Information Center in the
French capital last Thursday. They were suspected of supporting a
terrorist organization abroad.
Cansiz was known as an important figure in the northern German cadre
of the PKK, the Kurdish separatist group considered to be a terrorist
organization by Turkey and most Western countries. She was also a
member of the Kurdish National Congress in Brussels.
In March 2007, authorities arrested Cansiz in a café in Hamburg's
Schanzenviertel district with an international warrant issued by
Turkey, but the city's regional appeals court opted not to extradite
her. The court ruled that the accusations against Cansiz were too
vague.
Concurrently, however, Hamburg state prosecutors began investigating
her for her role in the PKK. Federal prosecutors took over the case
in 2008.
A close companion of now imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan,
Cansiz herself spent some 12 years in Turkey's Diyarbakir Prison,
notorious for the systematic torture that took place there, and later
went on to become an important PKK representative in Europe. In 1998
France granted Cansiz asylum, but most recently she was thought to
have spent time in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
New Strain on Peace Efforts
Leyla Söylemez's connection to Germany began in the 1990s, when she
fled here with her family. Living in the eastern German city of Halle,
she studied architecture and was an active member of the PKK youth
branch. Some years ago, however, she quit her studies, apparently to
concentrate fully on her political activities.
While it remains unclear exactly who might be behind the mysterious
shootings, the triple-murder in Paris is likely to strain recent
efforts toward reconciliation between the Turkish government and the
PKK. On Dec. 28, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed
during a television interview that after a long hiatus, his government
had renewed talks with PKK leader Öcalan, who is currently in solitary
confinement on the island of Imrali, in the Sea of Marmara. Shortly
thereafter, one of Erdogan's advisors disclosed that the head of
Turkey's MIT intelligence agency, Hakan Fidan, had spent Dec. 23 and
24 on the island to meet with the prisoner.
The New Year then brought permission for two Kurdish politicians to
meet with Öcalan as well. It was the first time since his arrest
and imprisonment that he was given such a privilege, and its very
occurrence is evidence that the man seen as a terrorist leader by
the majority of the Turkish government is now ready to take an active
role in finding a peaceful solution to decades of bloody conflict in
the country's southeast.
Turkish media had also recently reported that a fundamental agreement
had already been made. Some suspect that the murders were an attempt
to stall the peace talks, though it remains unclear who was responsible
and both sides are blaming each other for the crime.
Over the weekend some 15,000 people from around Europe -- many of
them Kurds living in Germany -- gathered in Paris to demand justice
in the murders in Paris.
Appearing on television on Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan
demanded that France solve the murders "immediately," and criticized
the country for granting Cansiz asylum. Turkey has frequently
criticized European nations for inadequate support in its fight
against the PKK, and Erdogan also mentioned Germany's decision not
to extradite Cansiz in 2007.
SPIEGEL/kla
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/kurdish-activists-murdered-in-paris-had-german-ties-a-877352.html
AFP / IHLAS NEWS AGENCY
Slain Kurdish activist Sakine Cansiz (L) with Abdullah Öcalan, the
leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in 1995.
The murder of three Kurdish activists in Paris last week remains
a mystery, but SPIEGEL has uncovered details about their ties to
Germany. Two of the women were under investigation by German federal
prosecutors.
Two of the three Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) activists shot to death
last week in Paris were important functionaries within the banned
organization's German wing, and were also under investigation here,
SPIEGEL has learned.
ANZEIGE
The German attorney general was looking into potential criminal
activities by Sakine Cansiz and Leyla Söylemez, who were found murdered
along with a third woman at the Kurdish Information Center in the
French capital last Thursday. They were suspected of supporting a
terrorist organization abroad.
Cansiz was known as an important figure in the northern German cadre
of the PKK, the Kurdish separatist group considered to be a terrorist
organization by Turkey and most Western countries. She was also a
member of the Kurdish National Congress in Brussels.
In March 2007, authorities arrested Cansiz in a café in Hamburg's
Schanzenviertel district with an international warrant issued by
Turkey, but the city's regional appeals court opted not to extradite
her. The court ruled that the accusations against Cansiz were too
vague.
Concurrently, however, Hamburg state prosecutors began investigating
her for her role in the PKK. Federal prosecutors took over the case
in 2008.
A close companion of now imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan,
Cansiz herself spent some 12 years in Turkey's Diyarbakir Prison,
notorious for the systematic torture that took place there, and later
went on to become an important PKK representative in Europe. In 1998
France granted Cansiz asylum, but most recently she was thought to
have spent time in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
New Strain on Peace Efforts
Leyla Söylemez's connection to Germany began in the 1990s, when she
fled here with her family. Living in the eastern German city of Halle,
she studied architecture and was an active member of the PKK youth
branch. Some years ago, however, she quit her studies, apparently to
concentrate fully on her political activities.
While it remains unclear exactly who might be behind the mysterious
shootings, the triple-murder in Paris is likely to strain recent
efforts toward reconciliation between the Turkish government and the
PKK. On Dec. 28, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed
during a television interview that after a long hiatus, his government
had renewed talks with PKK leader Öcalan, who is currently in solitary
confinement on the island of Imrali, in the Sea of Marmara. Shortly
thereafter, one of Erdogan's advisors disclosed that the head of
Turkey's MIT intelligence agency, Hakan Fidan, had spent Dec. 23 and
24 on the island to meet with the prisoner.
The New Year then brought permission for two Kurdish politicians to
meet with Öcalan as well. It was the first time since his arrest
and imprisonment that he was given such a privilege, and its very
occurrence is evidence that the man seen as a terrorist leader by
the majority of the Turkish government is now ready to take an active
role in finding a peaceful solution to decades of bloody conflict in
the country's southeast.
Turkish media had also recently reported that a fundamental agreement
had already been made. Some suspect that the murders were an attempt
to stall the peace talks, though it remains unclear who was responsible
and both sides are blaming each other for the crime.
Over the weekend some 15,000 people from around Europe -- many of
them Kurds living in Germany -- gathered in Paris to demand justice
in the murders in Paris.
Appearing on television on Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan
demanded that France solve the murders "immediately," and criticized
the country for granting Cansiz asylum. Turkey has frequently
criticized European nations for inadequate support in its fight
against the PKK, and Erdogan also mentioned Germany's decision not
to extradite Cansiz in 2007.
SPIEGEL/kla
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/kurdish-activists-murdered-in-paris-had-german-ties-a-877352.html