Suspect joined Kurdish association one year ago

Güney had first contacted an association affiliated to FEYKA one year and two months ago
Speaking to ANF about Ömer Güney, the suspect detained by French police in connection with the execution of Sakine Cans?z, Fidan Do?an and Leyla ?aylemez in Paris on 9 January, the Federation of Kurdish Associations in France (FEYKA) President Mehmet Ülker told about the suspect’s relation with the Kurdish circles in France.

FEYKA President Ülker said that suspect Güney had first contacted an association affiliated to FEYKA one year and two months ago. Ülker said the suspect became a member of the Kurdish association in Villiers-le-Bel, the association which is the closest to the neighborhood he said he lived in, on 18 November 2011. According to Ülker, Güney started to visit the association often after that time, joining activities and getting in touch with the people there. “We learned that he spoke good French and therefore helped many friends in the Kurdish circle when they had a problem with the language. However, he had taken no official duty in the Kurdish association so far, he was just a member, like many other Turkish and French friends who can simply join our association, which is a democratic mass organization and doesn’t require any conditions for membership.”
Ülker continued answering one of the most frequently asked questions ‘how would someone, who is not known very much, accompany Sakine Cans?z to the office?’ “He gave confidence to the circle by joining activities and translating for people when they needed. Fidan Do?an called him that day and asked him to bring Sakine Cans?z to the Kurdistan Information Office.”

Ülker pointed out that the suspect wasn’t Sakine Cans?z’s driver or someone she entrusted for bureaucratic procedures.

According to Ülker, suspect Güney would say that he was Kurdish from the father’s side and Turkish from the mother’s side, when someone asked him where he came from. However – he adds – the most recent statements by French authorities contradict his words as to where he is from. “In brief, he has a dark side”, said Ülker adding that French Prosecutor’s statements are unsatisfactory. “This is a political murder which needs to be shed light on. The eyes of Kurdistan people are on the French state”, he notes.

Remzi Kartal, the leader of the Kurdistan People’s Congress (KONGRA-GEL), said on a TV program yesterday evening that Ömer Güney had no ties with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party).

Suspect’s uncle Zekai Güney, who also spoke to a TV program on CNN TÜRK last night, said that their family had no ties or sympathy for the PKK organization.

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