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Turkish policeman dies a day after being
shot during Newroz clashes
21.3.2012 |
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A Turkish riot policeman uses tear gas to disperse
Kurdish protesters during the Kurdish New Year
(Newroz) celebration in Istanbul, on March 18,2012.
Thousands of Kurds clashed with police in Istanbul.
Turkey which still denies the constitutional
existence of Kurds, refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. Kurds ask for more cultural
rights for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest
minority in Turkey, numbering more than 20 million.
Kurds call for lifting the ban on education in
Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat
Kurdish system within Turkey. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
Photo: Getty Images.
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March 21, 2012
DIYARBAKIR, The Kurdish
region of Turkey, — A Turkish police officer died
Wednesday after being shot in clashes as police
tried to disperse Kurds staging unauthorized New
Kurdish Year's celebrations, a security source said.
The officer was among 24 people who were
injured on Tuesday in clashes that
erupted across Kurdish-majority southeast when riot
police fired water cannon and tear gas in an attempt
to disperse the unauthorized demonstrations.
The officer, along with four other officers and a
civilian, was wounded in the Kurdish town of Cizre
in Sirnak province on the border with Iraqi
Kurdistan region, the source said.
Three other officers were also shot in Yuksekova
town of Hakkari, another border province mostly
populated by the ethnic minority.
Turkish authorities rejected a Kurdish demand to
mark Newroz on Sunday, the day of rest in Turkey,www.ekurd.net
designating Wednesday as the only day authorized for
New Year celebrations.
On Sunday, thousands of Kurds clashed with police in
Istanbul and the southern city of Diyarbakir,
leaving nine people injured as security forces tried
to stop festivities.
Newroz celebrations are an opportunity for the
Kurdish community to demand more rights and to show
support for the outlaw Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK).
The bloodiest Newroz in Turkey occurred in 1992,
when some 50 people were killed in clashes with
security forces in the Kurdish-majority southeast.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been
fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the
constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a
Kurdish state in the south east of the country, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000
lives.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous
Kurdish region
and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who
constitute the greatest minority in Turkey,
numbering more than 20 million. A large Turkey's
Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees,
lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the
way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within
Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader
Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against
the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish
constitution.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish
politicians say the measures fall short of their
expectations.
The PKK is considered ass 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its
political wing on the European Union's terror list.
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