KURDISH dissidents accused Ankara today of sending out Turkish hit squads to hunt them down across Europe.

A Berlin-based journalist, who would only identify himself as Mustafa, believes that there is collusion between Ankara and foreign intelligence services.

“We know that Erdogan has ordered assassinations and the neutralising of opposition voices, but surely they are working with the authorities here.

“This shadow war against Kurds means we are not safe anywhere and constantly looking over our shoulders.

“Sakine Cansiz’s execution shows this. Her killing must have been carried out with the help of French intelligence,” he told the Morning Star, referring to the 2013 shooting of the PKK co-founder, killed in Paris along with two other women activists.

“The longer the world turns a blind eye to Turkey, the longer our lives are in danger.”

He was speaking after a court case against an alleged Turkish assassination squad with apparent links to the government opened in Belgium on Friday.

Investigations alleged that the clandestine unit planned to kill Kongra-Gel co-chair Remzi Kartal and Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) executive member Zubeyir Ayda.

It was also revealed that the headquarters of the Turkish team was based in Paris with the French authorities aware of the network.

Wiretaps, photographs and documents reveal what sources close to the case say are “an obvious connection to the Erdogan regime.” 

The case came to light in 2017 when Haci Akkulak tipped off Kurdish authorities and the Belgian police after realising that the spy operation he was involved in would apparently include assassinations.

He has named a number of top officials who he claims were involved in the funding and co-ordination of the unit which is believed to have targeted exiled critics of the Turkish government.

Earlier this year Kurdish journalist Gokhan Yavuzel was knocked unconscious outside his Cardiff home by a mob soon after his name was reported to have appeared on a “hit list” of critics of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). 

The names of 55 people were posted on the Jitemkurt Twitter account, named after the notorious paramilitary Jitem organisation known for the massacre, torture and disappearance of thousands of Kurds.

Publication of the names of exiled Kurdish dissidents was followed by attacks on journalists in Germany.

Former Cumhuriyet newspaper editor-in-chief Can Dundar and former Peoples’ Democratic Party MP Osman Baydemir are among those identified as targets.