Tension Continues after Clashes in Silvan

13 soldiers were killed in an armed conflict in Silvan close to the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey on 14 July. One week later, tension in the country is still rising high.

Kurdish citizens were assailed throughout the past week and buildings of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) were attacked. On Wednesday (20 July) new clashed occurred.

A group of 300 people attacked the BDP district head office in Zeytinburnu (Istanbul). On the same day, a group of about 500 people reportedly made an assault on 200 Kurdish workers.

A "critical" night in Zeytinburnu

In Zeytinburnu, clashes occurred between BDP members who had gathered in front of the BDP district office and people from the district.

The group of BDP members apparently started chanting slogans supportive of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) at around midnight. Thereupon, an estimated 300 people carrying stones and clubs walked towards the BDP district office. The police intervened with water cannons when the people started throwing stones to the windows of the building.

Workers attacked in Erzurum

As reported by Fırat News Agency (ANF), a group of 500 people attacked Kurdish workers in the Aziziye district of Erzurum (eastern Turkey). The police, the district governor, the chief of police, the Erzurum governor and the gendarmerie came to the scene. Workers said that the police and the gendarmerie formed a barricade between the workers and their attackers before they were brought out of the district in groups.

Worker Şirin Gümüş from a TOKİ construction site told ANF that they were attacked two days earlier. Gümüş recalled, "Two days ago a group of 15 people came to the building site and beat one of our colleagues. He suffered a skull fracture and a broken arm. They came back today and attacked us again. They threw a Molotov cocktail to the tent we were staying in".

It was reported that the group was carrying stones, knives, clubs and planks. (AS/EKN/VK)