Turkish government cautious over Paris attack
ISTANBUL
AA photo/ Cem ÖKSÜZ
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has expressed the need for caution following the Jan. 9 execution-style murder of three Kurdish women working at an information office in Paris."It is too early to comment on this issue. We should wait for the incident to be revealed," Erdoğan said during a press conference in Senegal, where he is concluding a three-country African tour.
"We have an ongoing process against terrorism in Turkey; this might be a provocation to harm the process, or an internal feud … we don't know yet," Erdoğan said.
"We will continue to take steps with our goodwill until we can see positive results," Erdoğan said.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç also declined to speculate on the issue in a press conference earlier today, saying there were multiple reasons for the killings that were still unclear.
Arınç condemned the attack while expressing his sadness over the death of the three women, Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Söylemez
Paris attack draws reactions
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls has described the attack at the office of the Kurdistan Information Center in Paris, which resulted in the death of three women, as "insupportable."
French authorities are determined to uncover the truth in this case," Valls said during his visit to the crime scene this morning. Valls offered his condolescences to the families of the three victims.
"Three women have been shot down, killed, without doubt executed. This is a very serious incident, which is why I am here. It is completely unacceptable," he told reporters, AFP has reported.
"It's too early to say anything about the motive, we should let the investigators do their job first," Valls said.
Meanwhile, "This seems like an internal feud, we have seen these sort of incidents before," ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Hüseyin Çelik said in a statement, Doğan News Agency has reported.
"There may be some people who want to derail this process, we should be extremely careful," he added, referring to the ongoing peace talks between Turkish authorities and Kurdish representatives.
"This is a very sensitive issue. Not speaking on the matter is better than speaking about it, in terms of contributing to the process. Hopefully we will achieve a result all together. Our fraternity is our most important power," Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazıcı also said, responding to a question on the issue during a meeting with journalists in Istanbul.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) Europe representative and executive council member of Kurdistan Communities Union's (KCK) Zübeyir Aydar also said the attack was in response to the talks, in a statement to the Rudaw news portal.
"These attacks are oriented against the talks between İmralı [imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan] and the Turkish government ... This attack was executed by dark forces against the new process," Aydar said, claiming that "dark forces" came from within the Turkish state.
