Thousands of People Demonstrated for PKK Leader Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the militand Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was taken to Turkey on 15 February 1999. Many cities saw demonstrations on the 11th anniversary of his extradition.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) executives voiced their protest in a press release concerning the arrest of almost 200 people in the course of operations on 13/14 February, among them several BDP party members. BDP called "everybody to raise their voices and go to the streets whereever they are" to protest the arrests and the date of 15 February.

Shutters pulled down in Hakkari

Protests in the predominantly Kurdish south-east of the country lasted till the morning of 16 February. As reported by Yüksekova News, shops remained closed in Hakkari, Yüksekova, Şemdinli and Çurkurca, students stayed at home and vehicles did not enter the cities.

Protests in Yüksekova lasted till the evening, clashes between demonstrators and the police occurred. BDP Hakkari MP Hamit Geylani visited the town when the incidents went on. The mayor and representatives of non-governmental organizations among others established a committee to stop excesses.

Demonstrations in many cities

Demonstrations were organized in Erzurum and Ağrı in north-eastern Turkey, Van, Mardin, Urfa, Hakkari, Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Bingöl, Adıyaman and Bitlis in the south-east, Sakarya in the north-west, Mersin, Hatay and Antalya on the Mediterranean coast, İzmir and Aydın on the coast of the Aegean Sea and in Istanbul.

One-day hunger strikes were organized in Diyarbakır, Adıyaman, Şırnak, and Ağrı.

Noise bombs were thrown to the Kızıltepe Republic Police Station in Mardin, the guard house of the 7^th Corps Command in Diyarbakır and to the Katha district Courthouse in Adıyaman.

Clashes occurred between the police and demonstrators in Başakşehir/Istanbul.

According to Fırat News Agency, 25 people got injured in the demonstrations, 21 people were taken into detention, 17 of them children. Overall, 110 demonstrators were arrested including 35 children.

Demonstrations against the Iraq Kurdistan Regional Government were organized in several European cities.

Kurkish police announcement in Şırnak

In the Cizre district of Şırnak the police made an announcement in Kurdish saying that parents should take care of their children. (TK/VK)