Enraged by photos of French politicians among flags of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Ankara urged France to curb the PKK’s “anti-Turkish” activity on its territory in the wake of an attack against a Kurdish center in Paris. 

The attack last week, carried out by a Frenchman with a record of racist attacks, aggravated Turkish-French tensions over the Kurdish question and strained the French government’s ties with its Kurdish community, as some Kurdish activists refused to believe that the shooting was the solo act of a mentally disturbed gunman. Several Kurdish activists directly accused Turkey of being behind the killings, criticizing Paris for failing to protect the Kurds from Turkish secret services and ultranationalists who operate on French territory. 

On Monday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned France’s ambassador to Ankara, Herve Magro, to voice dissatisfaction with the “black propaganda’” against Turkey by the PKK, which is considered a terror group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The Turkish side was particularly critical of the participation of French government officials and some politicians in the demonstrations held by Kurdish groups “on the pretext of an attack carried out on Dec. 23 in Paris,” Ankara sources said. 

The Turkish side told Magro that it would be “beneficial” for the French government and the public to "accurately analyze" the violent incidents in Paris streets carried out by the PKK, Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency reported.