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Minors on trial in Turkey over Kurdish
riots
8.5.2006
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DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, May 8, 2006 (AFP) -
Twenty-three minors went on trial Monday in this
mainly Kurdish city over deadly rioting that shook
Turkey's restive southeastern region a month ago.
They are the first batch out of 80 youths to appear
in court on charges ranging from membership of an
armed group -- a reference to the separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- to violating the
law on demonstrations.
The remaining minors were expected to be brought to
court in groups throughout the week.
Only the parents of the accused were allowed into
Monday's hearing since the defendants were all
minors.
Defence lawyers said they expected some of their
clients to be released on bail.
If convicted, the minors face jail sentences of
between nine and 24 years in prison.
Apart from the youths, prosecutors have also
indicted 185 adults on similar charges and have
called for sentences of between three years and
life.
Riots erupted in Diyarbakir, main town of the
Kurdish region, on March 28 after youths demanding
vengeance attacked the police following the funerals
of PKK rebels killed in fighting with Turkish armed
forces.
A total of 16 people, including three small boys,
were killed when security forces opened fire and
used tear gas to disperse crowds, which attacked the
police with petrol bombs and vandalised public
buildings and shops.
Three women were crushed to death in Istanbul when
Kurdish rioters set a city bus ablaze with a petrol
bomb.
Turkish officials have accused the PKK, which has
fought for Kurdish self-rule in the region since
1984, of deliberately pushing hundreds of children
into clashes with the police in a bid to discredit
the government.
The Kurdish conflict has claimed more than 37,000
lives since 1984 when the PKK, blacklisted as a
terrorist group by Ankara, the European Union and
the United States, took up arms for self-rule in the
southeast.
AFP
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