 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Diyarbakir, Turkey (AFP) May 16, 2011 Several thousand Kurdish protesters held violent demonstrations Monday after the Turkish army killed 12 Kurdish rebels at the border with Iraq. Around 100 people, including members of Turkey's main Kurdish political movement, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), crossed the Iraqi border in the southeast to pick up the bodies of the slain militants, security sources said. Thousands had marched to the border area in Sirnak province over the past two days to collect the bodies of the rebels, killed last week in a military operation backed by helicopter gunships while trying to cross from Iraq. The guerrillas belonged to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a 26-year separatist war on Ankara and has rear bases in the mountains of northern Iraq, using them as a springboard for attacks on Turkish territory. There was brief face-off between the group bringing home four of the bodies and soldiers at the border, but the authorities eventually took the bodies after presenting papers from a prosecutor, witnesses said. Meanwhile police clashed with demonstrators in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey and Istanbul, home to a large community of Kurdish migrants, as thousands took to the streets to protest the killings. Demonstrators hurled petrol bombs and firecrackers at the police in Diyarbakir, the main southeastern city, while the security forces responded with tear gas and water cannons, an AFP reporter at the scene said, adding that scores were detained. A crowd, including local politicians, attempted to hold a march in downtown Siirt, but was stopped by the police. Clashes erupted also at a demonstration in Batman. In Istanbul, some 500 people staged a sit-in om Istiklal Avenue, the city's main pedestrian area, and clashes erupted with police in the nearby neighbourhood of Tarlabasi. The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in the southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Iraq: The first technology war of the 21st century
Baghdad road bomb kills Iraqi, wounds 2 NorwegiansBaghdad (AFP) May 16, 2011 One Iraqi security guard was killed and two Norwegians were among four people wounded Monday when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy in Baghdad, security and medical officials said.. The blast occurred at around 8:00 am (0500 GMT) in the eastern neighbourhood of Jadidah, or New Baghdad, an interior ministry official said on condition of anonymity. He said one Iraqi guard died, an ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
