Canadian Kurds ask France to find killers of three Kurdish activists in Paris

TORONTO, Canada—Kurds in Canada have asked the French government to bring to justice those responsible for the assassination of three Kurdish women activists in Paris two years ago.

“These cowardly assassinations aimed to silence Kurdish Nation`s demand for recognition in Turkey and emerging autonomous self-rule in dissolving Syria,” wrote four Kurdish organizations in Canada in a letter to the French Consul General in Toronto.

“The culprits are highly likely directed by those who, in their narrow mind, aimed to suppress Kurdish aspirations for freedom and justice,” read the letter to the French Consul Jean-François CASABONNE MASONNAVE.

Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Fidan Dogan, head of the Paris information center and Leyla Saylemez, a young activist were assassinated by gunmen who broke into their office in Paris on January 9, 2013.

The letter also asks French authorities to ease restrictions on Kurdish activists and members of the PKK who are in Europe “to work for the cultural and political rights for millions of Kurds in Turkey.” 

“Sakine Cansiz was granted political asylum in France where she was an activist with the aim of achieving peace, and recognition for Kurds and women rights in Turkey,” read the letter, signed by the Toronto Kurdish Women Committee.

The assassination of the Kurdish activists brought international condemnation and prompted demonstrations by Kurds across the world.

Kurdish leaders blamed the killings on Turkish officials and senior military officers while French investigators believe that an extreme Turkish nationalist movement and shadowy forces within the Turkish state might be behind the killings.

The Kurds mark the second anniversary of the death of three women activists when France mourns the death of 15 civilians and journalists killed by three Islamist militants in Paris.

The Kurdish communities in Canada said they share the pain of the French people as they “mourn the massacre that took place in Charlie Hebdo and condemn the cowardly attack on journalists at the satirical magazine,”