A special adviser to the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, condemned on Sunday the violence that took place on the sidelines of a demonstration in support of the Kurds following the murder of three people on Friday, December 22, rue d’Enghien, in the center of the capital.
He also blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), formed in 1978 with the intention of creating an independent Kurdish state. “It’s the PKK in France,” said Ibrahim Kalin, posting photos of overturned and burned cars on Twitter.
“The same terrorist organization that you support in Syria,” added the adviser, who also broadcast a video where protesters are heard shouting “we are all PKK” in the streets of the French capital.
“The same PKK that has killed thousands of Turks, Kurds and security forces over the last 40 years. Now they are burning the streets of Paris. Will they keep quiet?”, to continue.
Since 1984, the PKK has waged an armed struggle against Turkey and is active in Syria, Iran and Iraq. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.
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At least four cars were overturned, including at least one set on fire, and projectiles were thrown at police. On BFMTV, the Paris police prefect Laurent Núñez gave a balance of 31 minor injuries on the side of the security forces and one injured in the eyebrow bone on the side of the protesters.
The prefect also mentioned some “fifteen smashed windows”, but not completely broken, on the route of the demonstration from the Place de la République.
However, the demonstration had started “normally”, he specified. The events began “shortly after 1:00 p.m. for a reason that appears to be related to a provocation.” Laurent Nuñez thus evoked “a van that would have passed” near the demonstration.
“There were provocateurs passing by in a vehicle with the Turkish flag making the sign of the Gray Wolves so automatically that it provoked the young people,” Berivan Firat, a spokesman for the Kurdish Democratic Council association in France, said shortly before.
PKK flags during the demonstration
A few dozen people threw projectiles at the security forces who responded with tear gas. “Long live the resistance of the Kurdish people”, several protesters shouted.
The procession, originally numbering several thousand people, was split in two by these tensions and only a few hundred protesters managed to reach the Place de la Bastille shortly after 2:00 p.m., the arrival point of the procession.
In the crowd, many demonstrators waved flags of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) or the effigy of three Kurdish activists murdered in January 2013 in Paris. In the minutes after the attack, Kurds in France spoke of a “terrorist” act and blamed Turkey.
Source: BFM TV
