Kurdish Protester Killed in Turkey Clashes over PKK Statue
A Kurdish demonstrator was shot dead and at least two others wounded Tuesday when Turkish security forces opened fire on Kurds protesting at the dismantling of a controversial new statue of a slain PKK commander.
The clashes erupted when protesters gathered at a cemetery outside the town of Lice in the Diyarbakir region of southeastern Turkey to prevent soldiers from removing the statue of Mahsum Korkmaz, a founder of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The statue of Korkmaz, who planned the first attacks of the PKK's insurgency seeking self-rule for Turkey's Kurds, was unveiled on Saturday, but Turkish nationalists saw it as glorifying "terrorism" and a court swiftly ordered its demolition.
Security forces, backed by helicopters, launched an early morning operation to dismantle the statue, which quickly turned violent, with soldiers firing live bullets and tear gas, and protesters -- mainly children -- responding with stones, witnesses told AFP.
A demonstrator in his 20s died of gunshot wounds to the head, security sources said. The two confirmed wounded are in a serious condition.
The statue was eventually removed, leaving just the plinth, but sporadic clashes continued in and around the cemetery.
The Turkish Armed Forces said in a statement that a group of around 250 people -- including PKK members -- attacked the soldiers trying to remove the statue with rocket launchers, rifles and hand-made explosives.
The group fired at two military helicopters, forcing the soldiers to "immediately respond", the statement said.
Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay told NTV television that the incident was an "act of provocation" aimed at harming the peace talks with Kurdish rebels.
The statue of Korkmaz, which shows him dressed for battle and with a rifle by his side, was unveiled on Saturday to mark the 30th anniversary of the first PKK attacks against the Turkish authorities. He has been feted as a martyr by Kurds since he was shot dead in 1986.
The statue's unveiling sparked outrage among Turkish nationalists who denounced it as the unwanted result of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's policy of granting greater rights to the Kurdish minority.
Turkey is seeking to restart stalled peace talks with the PKK to end a three-decade conflict that has claimed an estimated 40,000 lives.
Erdogan, who was elected president this month, launched clandestine negotiations with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in 2012 but the talks stalled in September last year when the rebels accused the government of failing to deliver on reform.
However, hopes have been raised in recent weeks of a new breakthrough.
Turkish lawmakers last month adopted a bill aimed at advancing negotiations with the PKK, which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
In his presidential victory speech, Erdogan said the peace process would continue and that he would push to enshrine key Kurdish demands in the constitution.
In a statement from his cell on the prison island of Imrali, Ocalan said Saturday that Turkey was on the verge of "historic developments" after the election and that the 30-year conflict was "coming to an end".
Despite its blacklisting as a terror group, the PKK has joined forces with other Kurdish fighting units in the U.S.-backed operation to halt the advance of Islamic militants in Iraq.
Atalay said the peace talks, which have involved Ocalan and Turkey's spy agency, should be expanded to include the PKK leadership based in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq.
He added that the government was working on a roadmap that it wants to present in late September.
Source: Agence France Presse
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