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More minors charged over Kurdish riots in
Turkey
10.5.2006
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DIYARBAKIR,
Kurdistan-Turkey, May 9, 2006 (AFP) - Another
36 youths under the age of 18 have been charged in
connection with violent riots in Diyarbakir, the
main city in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey,
judicial sources said Tuesday.
The number of people charged in last month's
violence has reached 301, of whom 116 are minors,
and if convicted face penalties of nine and a half
to 24 years in prison. Charges had already been
brought aginst 80 teenagers.
The latest accusations against minors carry a lesser
penalty of between six months to 18 years in jail.
They are accused of obstructing authorities as
followers of the outlawed armed separatist group,
the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is blamed
for starting the riots.
The 36 youths will be tried on May 31, said judicial
sources, which did not specify the exact ages of the
suspects.
Ankara has accused the PKK of encouraging the young
people to confront the police to give the security
forces a bad reputation.
The riots broke out in Diyarbakir on March 28 during
the funerals of PKK rebels killed by the Turkish
army and then spread to other cities in the region.
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.
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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