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Turkey on Monday summoned France’s ambassador over “anti-Turkey propaganda” that it alleged French officials did little to stop following the killing of three Kurds in Paris.
Friday’s shooting was followed by days of protests by Kurdish groups and their supporters in the French capital.
Some of the protesters waved flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.
Others held banners with slogans accusing Turkey of being a killer state and connected to the shooting.
A Turkish diplomatic source said the French ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry for allegedly failing to stop the “black propaganda” promoted by the PKK.
“We expressed our dissatisfaction with the black propaganda launched by PKK circles against our country and with the fact that the French government and some politicians are used as a tool in this propaganda,” the source said.
The source alleged that the PKK’s false allegations were used “by French government officials and some politicians” against Ankara.
Strained relations
“We expect France to act prudently in the face of the aforementioned incident,” the source said.
Turkey’s relations with France have been stained by their opposing stances on the conflict in Syria and a range of other regional disputes.
The protests broke out after a 69-year-old white French man opened fire at a Kurdish cultural centre in Paris.
The suspect has confessed to a “pathological” hatred for foreigners.
The shooting at a Kurdish cultural centre and a nearby hairdressing salon on Friday sparked panic in the city’s bustling 10th district, home to numerous shops and restaurants and a large Kurdish population.
The violence has revived the trauma of three unresolved murders of Kurds in 2013 that many blame on Turkey.
On Monday several hundred people marched in the 10th district, chanting “Our martyrs do not die” in Kurdish and demanding “truth and justice”.
“We decided to come as soon as we heard about Friday’s terrorist attack,” one young woman told AFP, declining to give her name for fear of reprisals.
“We are afraid of the Turkish community and secret services.”
The PKK has been waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
