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DIYARBAKIR,
Turkey, July 6 (Reuters) - A former pro-Kurdish
politician was gunned down in southeastern Turkey's
largest city on Wednesday, but it was not
immediately clear whether the killing was
politically motivated, officials said.
Hikmet Fidan, 50, was killed outside an apartment
building in a busy section of the regional capital
of Diyarbakir, and police were searching for the
gunman.
Fidan was vice-chairman of the People's Democracy
Party (HADEP), banned in 2003 for alleged links to
the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in
1984 to carve out an ethnic homeland. More than
30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in the
ensuing conflict.
The violence has subsided since the 1999 capture of
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. But there has been a
increase in clashes since the end of the PKK's
unilateral ceasefire last year
Several Kurdish activists and politicians were
assassinated or disappeared at the height of the
conflict in the 1990s, but such killings have
dropped off sharply in recent years.
In a separate incident, a PKK guerrilla was killed
and two others were seriously wounded in a clash
with Turkish troops in in a valley in Mardin
province during an operation launched on Tuesday
evening against the militants, a security official
said.
In another clash in nearby Siirt province, two
paramilitary police officers were wounded when PKK
fighters, armed with automatic rifles, attacked a
police station on Tuesday evening, the officials
said.
Former Kurdish politician gunned down in Turkey
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, July 6 (AFP) - 17h12 - A
former prominent Kurdish politican was shot and
killed outside his home in the mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey on Wednesday, but local security
sources ruled out any political motives behind the
murder.
A lone assailant shot Hikmet Fidan, 50, in the head
once outside a building in the regional capital of
Diyarbakir before fleeing the scene, a security
source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
Fidan died on the spot.
The motive of the murder was not immediately clear
but police were investigating a possible dispute
over money matters, he added.
Fidan was a leading name in the political Kurdish
movement in Turkey and served as a deputy chairman
in the now-defunct People's Democracy Party (HADEP)
until it was banned by the constitutional court in
2003 for links with armed Kurdish rebels.
HADEP was succeeded by a sister party, the
Democratic People's Party (DEHAP), which is also
facing a possible ban on charges of links with
Kurdish rebels and for allegedly falsifying
documents to win a berth in the 2002 general
elections.
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