Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a conference in Istanbul on March 12, 2021. (Credit: Murad Sezer/Reuters)
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 organization 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.
"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 center in Paris.
The suspect has confessed to a "pathological" hatred for foreigners.
The PKK has been waging a decadeslong insurgency against the Turkish state that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
