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Turkey probes bomb attack as tensions
flare in Kurdish region
11.11.2005
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SEMDINLI, Turkey,
Nov 11 (AFP) - 17h49 - The Turkish government
promised Friday to investigate a deadly bomb attack
in this remote southeastern town that has sent
tensions in the mainly Kurdish region soaring amid
claims security forces may have been involved.
About 10,000 people gathered in Semdinli, in Hakkari
province, for the funerals of a man killed in
Wednesday's attack against a bookstore, reportedly
owned by a former Kurdish guerrilla, and a second
person shot dead in ensuing riots.
"Killer state," "Terrorist state," the crowd
chanted, also shouting slogans in favor of
separatist Kurdish rebels.
Security forces were on high alert as the bodies
were brought to Semdinli, near the point where the
borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq meet, after
autopsies in Diyarbakir, 630 kilometers (395 miles)
to the west.
People using metal power poles dismantled during
Thursday's riots erected barricades on several
streets to block the expected arrival of police
reinforcements from neighboring towns.
In Hakkari city, five people, including a policeman,
were wounded in clashes during which police fired
warning shots in the air and used tear gas to
disperse a crowd outside the mayor's office, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
In Ankara, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed
that those responsible for the blast would be found
and punished.
"No one should expect protection or special
treatment," he said. "We will not let anyone prepare
the ground for confrontation between the state and
its people."
Several members of parliament members and some
newspapers likened the incident to a major scandal
in the 1990s that uncovered links between security
forces fighting Kurdish rebels in the southeast,
local feudal landlords, politicians and organized
crime.
Some members of the security forces were also
accused of summary executions, extortion,
kidnappings and of smuggling arms and drugs.
The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly
condemned Turkey for human rights violations against
Kurdish civilians during the 1984-1999 conflict
between armed Kurdish separatists and the Ankara
government.
The accusations long remained an obstacle to
Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, with
which it began membership talks on October 4.
The unrest in Semdinli underscores mounting tensions
in Turkey's southeast, where a period of relative
calm was shattered last year after the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) called off a
five-year unilateral truce.
In a newspaper interview Friday, Semdinli prosecutor
Harun Ayik confirmed that a man in police custody,
who escaped lynching after allegedly hurling the
bomb at the bookstore, was a gendarmerie
intelligence agent.
The suspect denied any role in the bombing and said
he was attacked by the mob because he was not a
local, Ayik told the daily Vatan.
The prosecutor said two non-commissioned gendarmerie
officers were also being held as suspects and that a
third would be questioned for firing shots in the
air during the unrest.
He said weapons and documents found in a car the
three suspects allegedly attempted to escape in
after the blast did not automatically prove guilt.
Media reports said the documents included a map of
Semdinli, a sketch of the bookstore and a list of
people, including the store's owner.
Ayik said they did not rule out the possibility that
the bombing and the ensuing confusion may have been
orchestrated by the PKK to stir up anti-government
unrest.
Ankara has sent administrative investigators to look
into the incident; a parliamentary commission and ad
hoc committees set up by opposition parties are also
expected here soon.
Some 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when
the PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the
southeast.
Keen to boost its EU bid, Ankara has recently
granted the Kurds a series of cultural freedoms, but
Kurdish activists say more should be done to fully
mend fences.
AFP
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