Thousands of Kurds attending killed PKK women’s funerals

PanARMENIAN.Net - Thousands of Kurds are attending the funerals in Diyarbakir, Turkey, of three female Kurdish activists shot dead in Paris last week, BBC News reported.

Crowds chanted as the coffins of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) members Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez were carried through the city streets to a parade ground where the funerals are being held.

There is tight security at the event. No-one has been arrested for the crime and the motive is unclear. But a prominent Kurdish politician said the killings would not deter those seeking an end to the Kurdish conflict.

The chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, Selahattin Demirtas, vowed to support a fragile peace process.

No group has said it killed the women, but many Kurds blame elements of the state.

There were calls for revenge as the coffins, draped in the red, green and yellow Kurdish flag, made their way through the crowds in the south-eastern Turkish city.

Some women chanted "Fighting makes you free", and other pro-PKK slogans, as they followed the funeral procession. But many female mourners were wearing white scarves, a symbol of peace.

Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had appealed for calm and suggested the deaths may have been intended to sabotage peace effort.