France: Turkey should distinguish between Kurdish community and PKK

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called on Turkey to distinguish between the Kurdish community and the PKK.

Reminding that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is designated as a terrorist organization by France, “Turkey should distinguish between the PKK and the Kurdish movements that are not linked to violence,” Colonna said in a written statement released after her phone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Euronews reported on Friday.

Cavusoglu on Thursday told his French counterpart on the phone that a "black propaganda" was spread against Turkey after the deadly Paris shooting and urged the French administration "not to allow it," according to Reuters.

Complaining to Colonna over some French politicians’ attendance in protests held after the attack, Turkish foreign minister said “It is unacceptable that French politicians attended events in which flags of the terrorist organisation PKK and posters of its leader [Abdullah Ocalan] were waved,” Reuters said, citing a statement from Cavusoglu’s office.

The demonstrations in Paris broke out after a French gunman who later defined himself as a “racist” opened fire at a Kurdish cultural center and nearby Kurdish cafe in the French capital's busy central 10th district on Dec.23, killing three Kurds.

The protests organized by the Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F) was held at Republic Square on Saturday, followed by violent incidents in which cars were overturned, shop windows were damaged and fires set alight near the square.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top aide Ibrahim Kalin has blamed the PKK over the unrest, saying that “This is PKK in France.”