Belgian authorities have sentenced in absentia a Turkish ‘hit squad’ which attempted a foiled assassination plot against two prominent Kurdish political leaders on European soil.
The plot, which dates back to 2017, aimed to target Remzi Kartal and Zubeyir Aydar, both residents of Belgium for decades as representatives of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK).
The court sentenced Zekeriya Çelikbilek, a former Turkish military officer and French citizen; Yakup Koç, who was found with a Turkish police ID. The convicted individuals, who fled the country before being arrested, have been sentenced to five years in prison by the Brussels Court of Appeal. According to Kartal and Aydar’s lawyer Jan Fermon, it’s apparent that the plot was orchestrated on orders from the Turkish government, an assertion borne out by details reported by Belgium’s De Morgen newspaper.
Furthermore, evidence suggests potential links between the ‘hit squad’ and a broader network operating in France. The plotters are shown to have been in close contact with representatives of the Turkish National Security Council and a military mercenary group known as Sadat, colloquially termed ‘the Turkish Wagner group’.
As such, the revelations in Belgium could reignite a long-standing investigation into the assassination of three prominent female Kurdish activists in Paris in 2013. Despite the death of the prime suspect in that case, who also has links to the Grey Wolves, it’s hoped that justice can still be served. Kurdish representatives have condemned what they say is an eleven-year cover-up by the French justice and security services and demanded transparency from the French authorities over the triple murder, which evidence suggests was a contract killing carried out by Turkish intelligence. In December 2022, just weeks before the tenth anniversary of the 2013 assassinations, three more Kurdish activists were killed in an armed attack on a Kurdish cultural centre in Paris.