Turkish police clash again with Kurdish protesters
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, March 29 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Kurdish protesters hurled stones and set tyres ablaze in a second day of street battles with police on Wednesday in Diyarbakir, a city in Turkey's impoverished, mainly Kurdish, southeast region.
The violence erupted on Tuesday after funeral ceremonies for 14 guerrillas of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), killed by security forces in a military operation last weekend.
The police, some of them drafted in from other towns to help restore order, retaliated on Wednesday with teargas.
In other parts of the city, teams of workers were cleaning up the mess and removing makeshift barricades from Tuesday's clashes, which residents said were the worst in 30 years.
Police have detained up to 100 people during the clashes. They face charges of spreading propaganda on behalf of an illegal organisation and of vandalising state property.
At least 35 people, including 11 police, have been injured in the fighting. Several banks and cars have been badly damaged.
Shopping centres and the local headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were among the buildings targeted by the protesters.
Political analysts say high unemployment, poverty and a belief that Ankara is not seriously interested in improving their lot have helped fuel a sense of neglect and desperation among the people of Turkey's southeast.
In Ankara, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it was investigating reports that pro-separatist Roj TV, based in Copenhagen, was helping to instigate the violence and said it would renew its appeal to Denmark to shut down the station.
"We are closely following this issue," ministry spokesman Namik Tan told a news briefing, adding that any findings from the investigation would be forwarded to the Danish authorities.
Ankara views Roj TV as a PKK mouthpiece, but Denmark has resisted Turkish pressure to close it, citing media freedom.
Last year, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan boycotted a news conference in Copenhagen he was due to hold with his Danish counterpart Anders Fogh Rasmussen because of the presence of a Roj TV journalist.
More than 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.
The PKK is also on the terrorist blacklist of the European Union and the United States.
(Additional reporting by Zerin Elci in Ankara)
The violence erupted on Tuesday after funeral ceremonies for 14 guerrillas of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), killed by security forces in a military operation last weekend.
The police, some of them drafted in from other towns to help restore order, retaliated on Wednesday with teargas.
In other parts of the city, teams of workers were cleaning up the mess and removing makeshift barricades from Tuesday's clashes, which residents said were the worst in 30 years.
Police have detained up to 100 people during the clashes. They face charges of spreading propaganda on behalf of an illegal organisation and of vandalising state property.
At least 35 people, including 11 police, have been injured in the fighting. Several banks and cars have been badly damaged.
Shopping centres and the local headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were among the buildings targeted by the protesters.
Political analysts say high unemployment, poverty and a belief that Ankara is not seriously interested in improving their lot have helped fuel a sense of neglect and desperation among the people of Turkey's southeast.
In Ankara, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it was investigating reports that pro-separatist Roj TV, based in Copenhagen, was helping to instigate the violence and said it would renew its appeal to Denmark to shut down the station.
"We are closely following this issue," ministry spokesman Namik Tan told a news briefing, adding that any findings from the investigation would be forwarded to the Danish authorities.
Ankara views Roj TV as a PKK mouthpiece, but Denmark has resisted Turkish pressure to close it, citing media freedom.
Last year, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan boycotted a news conference in Copenhagen he was due to hold with his Danish counterpart Anders Fogh Rasmussen because of the presence of a Roj TV journalist.
More than 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.
The PKK is also on the terrorist blacklist of the European Union and the United States.
(Additional reporting by Zerin Elci in Ankara)
posted by Marko at 3/29/2006 07:51:00 AM
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