Many in Turkey fear that the triple murder could derail delicate peace talks between the Turkish government and the PKK, which launched a guerrilla war against the Turkish state nearly 30 years ago. More than 40,000 people have been killed in one of the Middle East's longest-running conflicts.

Kurdish activists accuse the Turkish government of decades of discriminatory policies against the country's largest ethnic group. Turkish security forces have arrested thousands of Kurds in recent years on suspicion of terrorist activities.

Last fall, the Turkish government initiated a new attempt at dialogue with Ocalan. The PKK leader is serving a life sentence in a prison on the Turkish island of Imrali.

"We knew achieving peace would be difficult, we knew there would be provocations ... we did not expect them to happen in France," said Tuncel, the Kurdish lawmaker.