Clashes on Anniversary of Öcalan’s Arrest
Like in previous years, the anniversary of
his capture was marked by protests in cities with Kurdish majority populations
or a significant percentage of Kurdish inhabitants. The police prevented
demonstrations, which MPs of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) and
other DTP politicans took part in. Dozens of people were injured in
clashes between the police and demonstrators.
Batman
MPs Ayla Akat Ata and Bengi Yıldız, as well as mayor Hüseyin Kalkan and province party chair Özcan Erdem took part in making an announcement to the press. When the police stopped the protesters from marching, Yıldız said: “When we come here, we can take part in an illegal demonstration. We may also express our support for a criminal. The security forces cannot spray tear gas and intervene. They will identify people and do their duty. They think that they can intimidate us, but they are wrong.”
The DTP politicians later visited those injured in clashes in hospital.
Diyarbakır
More than 10,000 people gathered in front of the DTP party building in Diyarbakır. The rally was also attended by DTP MP Aysel Tuğluk, Greater Diyarbakır mayor Osman Baydemir, and the mayors of three other Diyarbakır municipalities.
The police prevented the demonstrators from marching, and the DTP building was surrounded after a press release.
Tuğluk did not allow the police to enter the building or to arrest the wounded. She said, “This is a democratic reaction by the people. You cannot interfere.” She was then harrassed by the police, who threw many tear gas bombs into the building.
According to the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office, eight police officers and seven demonstrators were injured. NTV news spoke of more than 40 arrests.
Siirt
Around 1,000 people gathered in front of the DTP province party building, including MP Osman Özçelik, mayors and candidate mayors of Siirt, as well as the province party leader, Abdurrahman Taşçı.
Taşçı said, “The hegemonic powers have prevented a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue with the 15 February plot (i.e. the arrest of Öcalan). The esteemed Öcalan has been punished with confinement in the cell many times. We declare the day of the 15 February conspiracy as a dark day for the Middle Eastern peoples.”
Suruç district in Şanlıurfa
In the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa, hundreds of women took part in a sit-down protest in front of the district DTP party office. They condemned Öcalan’s confinement punishment and the conditions in the prison where he is being kept.
Öcalan is being kept on a prison on İmralı island in the Marmara Sea. He is the only prisoner there and guarded under maximum security conditions.
Yüksekova and Şemdinli districts in Hakkari
In Yüksekova, shop keepers left their
shutters down in protest. Demonstrators closed the main roads to traffic and
built barricades. Security forces fired shots in the air and intervened with
tear gas bombs. Four people, two of them children, were arrested. In Şemdinli,
too, shopkeepers kept their shops closed, and minibuses did not work. The
Hakkari Governor’s Office reported that 4 police officers were injured in
clashes.
Mardin
The police arrested a total of eight people at demonstrations in the Kızıltepe and Nusaybin districts. Shopkeepers in the Derik district kept their shutters down.
Şırnak
The police used force to prevent demonstrations in different areas in Şırnak. In the district of Cizre, the police prevented a mass visit to the grave of Yahya Menekşe, a 16-year-old boy who was run over by a police tank at a demonstration on last year’s 15 February.
Van
The police shot in the air and used tear gas and pressurised water guns to stop demonstrations in the Hacıbekir neighbourhood in Van. Three people were injured and 10 people arrested. In the district of Başkale, the police tried to stop shopkeepers from closing their shutters, but the shops remained closed. (TK/AG)
* Information from the following local media was used for this article: Yüksekova News, Diyarbakır Gün TV, Batman Çağdaş newspaper.