Demonstrator clash with police in Turkey
Demonstrator clash with police in Turkey
The protest was called by Turkey's pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party.

Van, Turkey: Thousands of demonstrators came in clash with riot police over an alleged attack on jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Police had detained many Kurdish protesters in the eastern Turkish city of Van on Saturday

The protest was called by Turkey's pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party.

The crowd was carrying pictures of the PKK leader, and chanting slogans in support of the Kurdish separatist group.

Police had to use teargas and water cannon to disperse some groups attacking police with stones.

However, Turkish authorities deny any mistreatment of Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence on an island in the Marmara Sea.

On Monday (October 20) one protester died of gunshot wounds when Kurdish demonstrators fought police in eastern Turkey.

Tensions in the region have been exacerbated by a series of deadly PKK attacks on soldiers.

The military has responded by pounding suspected PKK positions inside Turkey and in northern Iraq, where many of the rebels are based.

Some 40,000 people have died in PKK-related violence since 1984, when the group took up arms to try to carve an ethnic Kurdish homeland out of southeast Turkey.

PKK guerrillas are still active in southeast Turkey, however the level of violence is much lower than before Ocalan's 1999 capture.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

What's your reaction?

Comments

https://umorina.info/assets/images/user-avatar-s.jpg

0 comment

Write the first comment for this!