Diyarbakir , Turkey ( CNN ) -- Thousands took to the streets Thursday in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir , Turkey , to mourn three political activists killed last week in execution-style shootings in France . The women were saluted as the `` three flowers of Kurdistan '' by a mourner using a sound system atop a bus , while some carried portraits of the victims or signs reading `` Sakine Cansiz is immortal . '' Read more : Kurds rally in Paris over murder of 3 women activists . Cansiz , one of the three killed , was one of the co-founders of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK , a Kurdish rebel group that has waged a guerrilla war against the Turkish state since 1984 . Also killed were Leyla Sonmez and Fidan Dogan . French authorities said the bodies of the three women were discovered in the Information Center of Kurdistan in Paris . No arrests have been made in their deaths so far . Read more : How Paris killings could renew Kurdish flashpoint . Many in Turkey fear that the triple killings could derail delicate peace talks between the Turkish government and the PKK . More than 40,000 people have been killed in the nearly 30-year conflict . Turkey , the United States and the European Union have labeled the PKK a terrorist organization . Read more : Turkey police crack down on Kurds . 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 Abdullah Ocalan , the PKK leader serving a life sentence in a prison on the Turkish island of Imrali . Read more : Report says Turkey 's Kurdish conflict has turned more violent . In what appeared to be a sign of good will , Turkish authorities allowed the bodies of the three women , all Turkish citizens , to be repatriated from France . Brigades of Turkish riot police armed with machine guns and gas masks fanned out across the grounds Thursday where mourners were gathered , even as Kurdish politicians denounced Turkey 's prime minister and some carried portraits of Ocalan . Kurdish leaders said they , too , were working to reduce tensions in the wake of the killings . `` Here the people of of Kurdistan , by claiming ownership of these three revolutionary women , are showing that they will not fall prey to provocation , '' said Sebahat Tuncel , a member of Turkey 's parliament from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party . `` We showed our attitude beyond any doubt , that we are for peace , for freedom , and for a democratic and peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue . '' In recent days , the Turkish military bombed suspected PKK camps in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq . On Wednesday , a Turkish police officer was killed in `` an armed attack on a police car , '' according to the office of the governor of the southeastern province of Mardin . `` They say peace on the one hand , but then they bomb Qandil . In short , we have no trust left in the prime minister , '' said a middle-aged Kurdish man attending Thursday 's funeral demonstration . The man asked not to be identified for security reasons . `` The peace process has already been stalled . It did n't even begin . '' The atmosphere in Diyarbakir was subdued Thursday , with nearly every shop shuttered , in a citywide shutdown coinciding with the funeral demonstration . Kurdish politicians from the BDP told CNN they would accompany the bodies of the three murdered women to their hometowns of Maras , Tunceli , and Adana for burial later this week .
Three Kurdish political activists were killed execution-style in France , authorities say . The bodies of the women were repatriated to Turkey for burial . Among the dead was Sakine Cansiz , a co-founder of Kurdish rebel group PKK .