ANKARA/PARIS,— Three Kurdish activists were found dead in central Paris on January 10, 2013, in what authorities described as execution-style killings.
The victims—Sakine Cansiz, 54, a founding member of Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK); Fidan Dogan, 28; and Leyla Soylemez, 24—were shot in the head and neck.
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) denied any involvement in the killings. However, French investigators later concluded that Turkish intelligence operatives were “implicated” in the case, according to a court source.
The sole suspect, Omer Guney, a Turkish national, was arrested but died in prison in late 2016 before his trial. Authorities believe he was working covertly and had been assigned to monitor Kurdish representatives in Europe.
A leaked audio recording allegedly captured Guney discussing potential strategies and additional targets, though the authenticity of the recording was not independently verified.
The PKK, which launched an armed insurgency against the Turkish government in 1984, seeks greater autonomy for Kurds in Turkish Kurdistan.
The Turkish government does not officially recognize Kurdish identity in its constitution. Kurds make up an estimated to over 23 million of Turkey’s 82 million people.
The conflict has claimed more than 40,000 lives, including Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants. The PKK and its leader, Abdullah Ocalan—who founded the group in 1974 and is serving a life sentence in Turkey—remain widely supported by Kurdish communities both in Turkey and abroad, according to observers.
The investigative video report by The Best Documentary Channel
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