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Turkish police clash again with Kurdish
protesters
29.3.2006
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Kurdish riots continue for
second day in Turkey
DIYARBAKIR, Kurdistan-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, the main
city of Turkey's impoverished, mainly Kurdish
southeast.
The police, some of them drafted in from other towns
to help restore order, retaliated with teargas and
water cannon.
The number of injured in two days of rioting rose to
95, more than half of them policemen, emergency
services said.
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.
Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said 80 people had
been detained so far in the clashes. They face
charges of spreading propaganda on behalf of an
illegal organisation and of vandalising property.
"The aim of the organisers of these incidents is to
harm the unity, peace and security of our country,
but they will fail," the state Anatolian news agency
quoted Aksu as saying.
Turkish television showed a lorry ablaze while an
army convoy drove through rubble-strewn streets.
Buildings damaged by the protesters have included
several banks, shopping centres and the local
headquarters of Turkey's ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP).
Teams of workers earlier combed the city, removing
makeshift barricades and mopping up the mess left
after Tuesday's clashes, which residents described
as the worst in 30 years.
NEGLECT
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 Kurds of southeast
Turkey.
Local business leaders issued a joint statement
deploring the violence and saying it could badly
hamper efforts to develop the region and jeopardise
badly needed funds from the European Union, which
Turkey aspires to join.
"We believe the incidents we are witnessing will put
a halt to democratisation and the EU process," they
said.
"We are watching with concern how our region is
being dragged back towards chaos after a period of
peace and security following many years of
violence," they said.
More than 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been
killed in fighting since the PKK launched its armed
campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey
in 1984.
Violence largely subsided after the 1999 capture of
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, but has ticked up again
since the rebels called off a unilateral ceasefire.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it was
investigating reports that pro-separatist Roj TV,
based in Copenhagen, was helping to instigate the
latest violence and said it would renew its appeal
to Denmark to close the station.
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.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation by
both the EU and the United States. (Additional
reporting by Zerin Elci in Ankara)
Reuters
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