PKK supporters rally freely on the streets of Paris
PKK supporters hold flags which portray Abdullah u00d6calan, leader of the terror group. (Reuters Photo)


Supporters of the PKK terror organization rallied in French capital Paris, holding banners of the terror group's jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan on Saturday.

The PKK supporters gathered to mark the death anniversary of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Sönmez, three PKK members who were killed in a building in Paris in January 2013.

Organizers and attendants of the event also chanted slogans against France, demanding that the murder of the three PKK members be uncovered.

Another remembrance ceremony for the killed PKK members was held on Friday in Switzerland's Basel.

Formed in 1978, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state for an independent Kurdistan since the 1980s. The group then shifted its goal to autonomy in the predominately Kurdish regions of Turkey.

The terrorist group resumed its 30-year-old armed insurgency against the Turkish state in July 2015.

Over 1,100 people, including 800 security personnel have been killed and 314 civilians have lost their lives in PKK attacks in Turkey since then, while over 4,000 security personnel and 2,000 civilians have been injured.

The terror group is also responsible for the recent terror attacks in Turkey's western Izmir and central Kayseri provinces.

The PKK's campaign - killing civilians in the name of freedom for Kurdish citizens in Turkey - is not a new one. It is responsible for roughly 7,000 civilian deaths since it was founded. The majority of these victims were Kurdish citizens of Turkey who were killed for supporting the Turkish government at a time when attacks were intensifying in the predominantly Kurdish cities in eastern and southeastern Turkey where the PKK struggled to garner support.

The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by the U.S., EU and Turkey.

Despite being on the EU's official terrorist organizations list, the PKK's presence in Europe has been met with indifference in some European countries, resulting in an anomaly widely criticized by Ankara, who argues that the anti-terrorist rhetoric used by EU leaders directly contradicts the enabling of PKK activities in EU-member countries.