More deaths in SE Turkey clashes
Staff and agencies
31 March, 2006
By Mert Ozkan 9 minutes ago
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Six people have been killed this week in clashes between Kurdish protesters and police in Diyarbakir, the main town of Turkeys troubled southeast, its mayor said on Friday.
Officials in the nearby town of Batman said a three-year-old child had also died of gunshot wounds on Friday during clashes there, apparently bringing the regional death toll to seven.
The European Union , which Turkey aims to join, expressed concern about the violence and urged Ankara to do more to combat poverty in the southeast and to boost Kurds cultural rights.
Thousands of stone-throwing youths have fought running street battles for days with riot police armed with teargas, but Friday was much quieter. Most shops and offices reopened and only sporadic clashes were reported, mostly in one district.
Shopkeepers in Diyarbakir, a city of nearly a million people, said they had been closed previously because of threats.
They did not say who made the threats but Turkish officials say guerrillas of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are behind the riots and want to foster a climate of fear and chaos.
"For three days, we could not open. Those who did closed again after receiving threats. But today we opened. Nobody has threatened us ... We hope there will be no more threats," said one tradesman, speaking on condition of anonymity.
An eight-year-old died overnight in hospital in Diyarbakir. A man and a child were shot dead on Wednesday and a second man was crushed under a police armoured car. It was not clear when or how the other two people died.
"Six people have died, 200 people are wounded," Mayor Osman Baydemir told a news conference. He was speaking before news of the childs death in Batman.
The clashes erupted on Tuesday after funeral ceremonies for 14 PKK members killed by troops last weekend.
Political analysts and diplomats say the violence reflects local anger over high unemployment, poverty and Ankaras refusal to grant more autonomy to the mainly Kurdish region.
"We are aware of the serious terrorist problem in the region but it is a much wider problem than just a security issue," EU Commission spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy said.
"The region needs peace, economic development and real exercise of cultural rights for Kurds," Nagy added.
Ankara has lifted restrictions on the Kurdish language and culture in EU-linked reforms over the past few years, but critics say it needs to do much more.
Turkish government ministers praised the security forces handling of the riots, saying they had acted with restraint. They accused the PKK and its supporters of deliberately using children in the protests in order to win sympathy.
"The struggle against terrorism will continue, within the bounds of the law," Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said during a visit to Diyarbakir.
Aksu said the violence -- which has also targeted banks and shopping centres -- had harmed the citys image and would deter badly needed investment in the local economy.
The state Anatolian news agency said police had arrested 48 people so far after detaining more than 200.
Ankara regards the PKK as a terrorist group responsible for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since it launched its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. But many Kurds view the PKK sympathetically.
(Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander in Brussels)
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