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10 injured in major Kurdish peace demo in
Turkey
14.11.2005
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DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, Nov 13 (AFP) - 16h31 - Some 10
people were injured Sunday in clashes between riot
police hurling tear gas and demonstrators when more
than 10,000 people gathered here to call for a
peaceful solution to the region's Kurdish rebellion.
The "democracy and peace" demonstration, organised
by local non-governmental groups and pro-Kurdish
parties, took place amid tight security in this
predominantly Kurdish city of southeastern Turkey.
Demonstrators chanted slogans in support of the
outlawed pro-independence Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
and its leader Abdullah Ocalan, jailed for life by a
Turkish court in 1999.
Police baton-charged several hundred people who
tried to organise a separate march in support of
Ocalan and a number of arrests were made. Banners
read: "The PKK is the people."
An area around 600 kilometres (375 miles) further
east, near Turkey's borders with Iran and Iraq,
remained tense on Sunday following a bomb blast and
clashes in recent days that have left two dead and
dozens injured.
Local inhabitants and political figures in the
village of Semdinli where the bombings occurred said
they suspected collusion between security forces
fighting rebels and state officials.
The Turkish government has promised a thorough
investigation and two security men were charged
Saturday with attempted murder for firing on a crowd
as it tried to lynch a man suspected of planting the
bomb.
Southeastern Turkey has been the scene of a bloody
Kurdish rebellion for self-rule which has claimed
around 37,000 lives since 1984.
Unrest has increased considerably this year after
the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey,
the European Union and the United States, called off
a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004.
AFP
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