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More clashes in Turkey as Kurds bury 3
dead
30.3.2006
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DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, March 30 (Reuters) - Kurdish
youths hurled stones and molotov cocktails at
Turkish police and burned tyres on Thursday in a
third day of violent clashes which have so far
claimed three lives and wounded more than 250
people.
The fresh fighting erupted when thousands of people
attended funeral ceremonies for the three people --
two young men and an eight-year-old boy -- killed
during Wednesday's clashes in Diyarbakir, the main
city of Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast.
Some of the mourners, ignoring calls for calm from
local officials, attacked a police station they were
passing. Police used tear gas and truncheons to
disperse them.
In a sign that the unrest may be spreading, CNN Turk
television said about 3,000 protesters had also
fought with police in the nearby town of Batman.
More than 10 people were hurt in those clashes, it
said.
In Diyarbakir, a city of nearly one million on the
river Tigris, most shops and offices were shut on
Thursday. The Turkish army has stationed combat
vehicles in the suburbs in a bid to discourage
protesters.
The violence first erupted on Tuesday after funeral
ceremonies for 14 guerrillas of the banned Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK), killed by security forces last
weekend.
Diyarbakir governor Efkan Ala told a news conference
late on Wednesday that police had detained around
200 people during the clashes, the worst seen in
Diyarbakir in 30 years.
BAD PUBLICITY
"This violence damages the image of Diyarbakir,
which had been steadily improving ... It will delay
the flow of investment here that would curb
unemployment," Ala said.
Political analysts say the riots are rooted in high
unemployment, poverty and a belief among the Kurds
of the region that Ankara is not seriously
interested in improving their lot.
Under pressure from the European Union, which it
hopes to join, Turkey has removed restrictions on
Kurdish language and culture, but critics say it is
too little too late.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government is also
under fire from Turkish nationalists who view the
concessions to Kurds as rewarding terrorism.
Ankara holds the PKK responsible for the deaths of
more than 30,000 people since it launched its armed
campaign for an independent Kurdish state in
southeast Turkey in 1984.
"We are now paying the price for Erdogan's
Diyarbakir adventure," Devlet Bahceli, leader of the
Nationalist Action Party (MHP), said in televised
remarks.
Erdogan infuriated nationalists last summer when he
visited Diyarbakir and said Turkey had made mistakes
in the past in its handling of what he called the
"Kurdish problem".
The PKK is also on the terrorism blacklist of the
European Union and the United States.
Reuters
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