Thousands Rally in Turkey for Slain Kurdish Activists

The three women were killed in Paris

Tens of thousands of Kurds poured onto the streets of the Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Thursday for the funeral of three Kurdish activists killed in Paris, chanting slogans as coffins passed through the crowds.

The three women, including a co-founder of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), died last week in execution-style shootings which many saw as an attempt to derail a nascent peace process between Ankara and the guerrillas after three decades of conflict.

Hopes of an end to the war have grown in recent weeks after the government acknowledged it was talking to jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.