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Kurdish MP Pervin Buldan among 20 others
wounded in clashes between Kurds, Turkish police
14.7.2012 |
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Kurdish member of Turkish parliament Pervin Buldan
holds her leg after she was wounded during clashes
on July 14, 2012, in Diyarbakir. Stone-throwing
Kurds who defied a protest ban to demand the release
of jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan clashed
Saturday with Turkish police, leaving at least 20
people wounded. Several hundred protesters in
multiple groups spread throughout the city of
Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey threw stones and
swung sticks at police, who scattered them with
water cannon and teargas .
Photo: Getty Images
Turkish policemen patrol during a rally outlawed by
state authoritites to demand the release of jailed
rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, on July 14, 2012, in
Diyarbakir. Stone-throwing Kurds who defied a
protest ban clashed with Turkish police, leaving at
least 20 people wounded. Photo: Getty Images.
Kurdish demonstrators run during clashes with
Turkish police during a rally outlawed by state
authoritites to demand the release of jailed rebel
leader Abdullah Ocalan , on July 14, 2012, in
Diyarbakir.
Photo: Getty Images.
July 14, 2012
DIYARBAKIR, The Kurdish
region of Turkey, — Stone-throwing Kurds who defied
a protest ban to demand the release of jailed Kurd
rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan clashed Saturday with
Turkish police, leaving at least 20 people wounded.
Several hundred protesters in multiple groups spread
throughout the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in
south-eastern Turkey [northern Kurdistan] threw
stones and swung sticks at Turkish police, who
scattered them with water cannon and teargas, an AFP
correspondent said.
A Kurdish lawmaker from the pro-Kurd Peace and
Democracy Party (BDP) Pervin Buldan and five Turkish
police were among those injured in the clashes,
which lasted several hours.
Protesters set fire to cars and looted shops in some
areas.
The BDP had applied for permission to stage a
demonstration in central Diyarbakir, a predominantly
Kurdish city,www.ekurd.net
but had its request denied by local authorities, who
nevertheless called in security reinforcements in
case the protest went ahead.
The party called the protest to demand the release
of Ocalan, a founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK) who was jailed for life in 1999 and has been
serving his sentence on Turkey's Imrali island,
where he was long the only prisoner.
The PKK has several times proposed peaceful solutions regarding Kurdish problem,
Turkey has always refused saying that it will not negotiate with “terrorists”.
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.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous 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.
The PKK wants constitutional recognition for the Kurds, regional
self-governance and Kurdish-language education in schools.
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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