WASHINGTON DC - The Kurdistan Communities’ Union (KCK), an umbrella group for all wings of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, strongly condemned this week’s deadly armed attack at the Charlie Hedbo Magazine in Paris, as it prepares to commemorate the second anniversary of another attack in Paris that killed three PKK women.
“We vehemently condemn the assault and massacre conducted by the fascist thugs against the weekly satirical magazine as we offer our deepest condolences to the families and relatives of the victims, the French press and the French people,” the KCK statement said.
Three armed men believed to be affiliated with Islamic extremists stormed the magazine’s office in Paris on Wednesday, killing 12 people and wounding 11 others. The attack brought worldwide condemnation.
It nearly coincided with the second anniversary of the January 10, 2013 murder of three PKK leaders, Sakine Cansız, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez in Paris.
That case has remained unresolved. The families of the victims had asked a French judge to issue arrest warrants for four members of the Turkish intelligence agency (MIT), believed to have had connections in the killings. The MIT has rejected the allegations.
“The fascist thugs, beleaguering all the peoples of the Middle East, particularly the Kurdish people for long, have this time conducted a massacre in the heart of Europe, Paris. This massacre was aimed at intimidating the conscious public opinion of Europe,” the KCK statement said.
PKK affiliated forces have been the most effective force in countering ISIS advances in Syria and have assisted Kurdish Peshmerga forces against the militants in Kirkuk, Jalawla and the Shingal areas.
“Those committing the massacre at Charlie Hebdo are the killers who have the blood of the Kurds, Yezidis, Arabs, Assyrians, Turkmens, Syriacs and many other ethnic and religious groups on their hands,” the KCK charged.
“We call on all the European peoples and on all humanity, along with the Kurds and the peoples of the Middle East, to step up their joint struggles against these fascist thugs and the enemy to humanity,” the KCK added.
