“Now they are burning the streets of Paris. Are you still going to remain silent?”, he launched to the French authorities after the clashes which occurred on Saturday on the sidelines of the rally in support of the Kurds.
A special adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday condemned the violence that occurred on the sidelines of a rally in support of the Kurds after the assassination 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, also relaying a video where we hear demonstrators chanting “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 past 40 years. Now they are burning the streets of Paris. Are you still going to remain silent?” for follow-up.
Since 1984, the PKK has undertaken 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.
11 arrests on Saturday in Paris
At least four cars were overturned, including at least one set on fire, and projectiles were thrown at the police. On BFMTV, the prefect of police of Paris Laurent Nunez gave a balance sheet of 31 minor injuries on the side of the security forces and one injured in the brow bone on the side of the demonstrators.
The prefect also mentioned a “fifteen starred windows”, but not completely broken, on the route of the demonstration from the Place de la République.
The demonstration had however started “normally”, he specified. The incidents began “a little after 1 p.m. for a reason which seems to be related to a provocation”. Laurent Nuñez thus evoked “a van which would have passed” close to the demonstration.
“There were provocateurs who passed in a vehicle with the Turkish flag making the sign of the Gray Wolves so automatically, that provoked the young people”, said a little earlier Berivan Firat, spokesperson for the Kurdish Democratic Council association in France.
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”, shouted several demonstrators.
The procession, originally several thousand people strong, split in two because of these tensions and only a few hundred demonstrators managed to reach Place de la Bastille shortly after 2 p.m., 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 following the attack, the Kurds of France spoke of a “terrorist” act and blamed Turkey.
