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Kurds bury riot dead, Ankara urges
patience in bombing probe
17.11.2005
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DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, Nov 17 (AFP) - 16h06 - Thousands
of people gathered in Yuksekova town in Turkey's
mainly Kurdish southeast Thursday to bury three
people killed in riots that have strained the region
and rattled the Ankara government.
The coffins of the victims, killed Tuesday, were
wrapped in red, yellow and green cloths -- the
traditional Kurdish colors that are also the symbol
of separatist Kurdish rebels, television footage
showed.
Violent protests have shaken the province of Hakkari
since the November 9 bombing of a bookstore in
Semdinli town, run by a former Kurdish guerrilla,
which is widely blamed on the security forces.
Yuksekova deputy mayor Sukru Ergider told AFP the
funerals passed without incident, adding, however,
that many were irked by military jets flying at low
altitude over the crowd.
Kurdish politicians blamed the three deaths on the
security forces, urging an official inquiry into the
conduct of the police, who officials say only fired
warning shots in the air.
Autopsies revealed that two of the victims were
killed by gunfire, while the third was crushed.
Officials said a protestor initially reported dead
after clashes in Hakkari city Wednesday was alive
though in critical condition.
Another person was shot dead in riots after the
bombing in Semdinli when an angry crowd almost
lynched three suspects.
One of them, who allegedly hurled the bomb and was
later arrested, turned out to be a former Kurdish
guerilla working as an informer for the gendarmerie,
an army unit policing rural areas.
The two others -- both gendarmerie officers -- were
set free, while a third soldier, accused of firing
at the crowd, was also arrested.
Weapons and documents, including a sketch of the
bookstore and a list of people, including the
bookstore owner, were found in a car outside the
shop.
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek urged patience Thursday
for the completion of the investigation.
"Our citizens should trust the probe," he said. "If
people stage those demonstrations because they think
the incident will be covered up, they should know
that nothing will be covered up."
Tensions have mounted in the southeast since the
rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) called off a
five-year unilateral truce in June 2004, shattering
a period of relative calm.
On Thursday, a bomb blamed on the PKK went off on a
railway in the province of Van, causing damage to a
freight train but no casualties, Anatolia news
agency reported.
The Kurdish conflict has claimed some 37,000 lives
since 1984 when the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist
group by Ankara as well as the European Union and
the United States, took up arms for Kurdish
self-rule in the southeast.
AFP
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