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Turkey demands information from France on Paris attack


Wednesday, 16 January, 2013 , 11:54

ANKARA, Jan 16, 2013 (AFP) — Turkey has sought information from France over the killing of three women Kurdish activists in Paris, a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

The shooting of the women would not jeopardise bilateral ties, Selcuk Unal told a weekly press conference.

"We are closely monitoring this case ... Contacts are under way between the police departments of the two countries," Unal said.

"We have asked French authorities since the beginning to provide us with detailed information on this matter," he said, adding that Ankara was awaiting the outcome of the investigation launched by France into the execution-style killing.

The three women were found dead last Thursday at the Kurdistan Information Centre in the French capital's 10th district. One of them was Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which took up arms in 1984 for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey.

The PKK is branded a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community.

French President Francois Hollande had said the murder of the three women was "terrible", adding that he knew one of them and that she "regularly met us", a comment that drew ire from the Turkish government.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded that the French president "must explain immediately to the French, Turkish and world public why ... he is in communication with these terrorists."

The ministry spokesman ruled out any negative impact of the incident on bilateral ties.

"We will maintain our relationship with France through all channels," Unal said, also talking about a possible visit by Hollande to Turkey this year.

The bodies of the slain women were expected to arrive Wednesday in Diyarbakir in the Kurdish-majority southeast where a ceremony will be held the next day.

Turkey suggested that the killing could be a result of an internal PKK feud while Kurdish activists believe it must have been the work of Turkish extremists.