2 Nov 2008, 2103 hrs IST, AFP
DIYARBAKIR: Turkish police clashed for a second day on Sunday with thousands of Kurds protesting a visit by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the country’s restive Kurdish-majority southeast.
Fighting erupted when some 3,000 demonstrators – mostly supporters of the country’s main Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) – tempted to stage a march in the town of Yuksekova, ignoring police orders to disperse.
Riot police fired shots in the air and used tear gas and water cannon against the demonstrators who pelted officers with stones, the report said.
The unrest came as Erdogan pledged unity and promised fresh steps to develop the impoverished region during a ceremony to inaugurate a hospital in Yuksekova before moving on to the nearby city of Hakkari.
“Let us protect our peace and stand united. If we increase our solidarity, we will also increase our development,” he said.
Erdogan underlined that his government would carry on with a reform drive to earn European Union membership for Turkey, which has resulted in broader Kurdish cultural freedoms.
In Hakkari, demonstrators stoned a convoy carrying officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and press members at the entrance of the city. No one was hurt. The prime minister arrived in a helicopter.
Police also quashed some small-scale demonstrations in the city where shops remained closed – a traditional Kurdish method of protest against the government.
Erdogan’s visit came a day after a suspected bomb blast rocked the AKP headquarters in Hakkari on Saturday and he was greeted by clashes between Kurds and police in the eastern city of Van.
There have been a series of Kurdish demonstrations across the country since last month as the military increased its operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who has waged a 24-year bloody campaign for self-rule.
Kurds have also been outraged over allegations that PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan — considered a hero by many Kurds – was mistreated and threatened with death in a Turkish prison where he is serving a life sentence in solitary confinement.
Erdogan on Sunday firmly denied the allegations, dismissing them as a ploy to drain support from the ruling party ahead of local elections
next year.
“There is no mistreatment, it is all a lie…They are making up excuses as the elections draw near,” he charged.
Posted by onlythenews 
