According to a report prepared by the Bursa branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD), the death of 12 soldiers in Hakkari at the weekend has made Kurds and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) the target of nationalist attacks.
Restaurants attacked
Bianet has learned that there were two attacks on restaurants in the Yildirim province on Wednesday (24 October) evening. Knives and pepper sprays were used, and a Hüseyin Yildiz was injured. He is still in intensive care. Two other people were less seriously injured.
The attackers said, "We are the young of this neighbourhood, and we will not shelter you!". They hung up Turkish flags in the restaurants.
Local sources say that windows of a shop were broken in Ortabag and that a wreath covered in a Turkish flag was left in front of the shop.
DTP worries about further violence
The funeral of one of the soldiers who died in Hakkari, Samet Sarac, took place in Bursa on Wednesday. One of the slogans shouted at the funeral was, "We don't want the PKK in parliament."
After DTP party headquarters have been attacked in various places in Turkey, the DTP province chair Suat Ertugrul has expressed his worry that Kurds may become the targets of further attacks. There are two rallies planned in Bursa by the "We are all Mehmeds [the name for soldiers] Solidarity" platform, one after Friday prayers today (26 October) and one on Sunday (28 October).
Local sources have also reported that the windows of a shop, which former Democracy Party MP Leyla Zana is said to have shares in, and known to be owned by a Kurd, have been broken every day since 12 October. There are also pancards reading "Love it [the country] or leave it".
The IHD further reports:
- At rallies going on until night on 21 October, the DTP headquarters was stoned by a group of around 1,000 people, its sign was taken down, and there were attempts to set fire to the building.
- The home of Öykü Evren who lives below the DTP headquarters was wrecked.
- A group of around a thousand people gathered in front of the building of the Basic Rights and Freedoms Association. First they besieged eleven people in the building, and then they attacked the building and injured one person.
- At the socalled Muhacir market [market of Balkan Turk immigrants], the workplaces of Kurdish traders were attacked. Because it was a Sunday, there was only material damage.
- Celal Hanbayat, the association head of the Assocation of People from Tunceli in Bursa was called and threatened with death. He was told that his workplace would be burned down.
- People are being forced to hang flags out at workplaces, in minibuses used for public transport and in private cars. People who do not comply are threatened, sworn at and harrassed.
- Primary and middle school children are taken out of school and go around the city shouting racist slogans, with the participation of some teachers.
- Zeynep Dirik was harrassed by a canteen owner when he heard her speak Kurdish; she was sworn at and insulted.
- A coffee house in the Mustafa Kemal Pasa district of Bursa, which many Kurds frequent, was attacked by nationalists; those sitting in the cafe were not allowed to go home.
- A group of up to 1,500 people attacked Kurdish work places. Weapons were used. Felemez Turgay and Ahmet Tokay were injured.
- The house of Kurdish citizen Abdurrahman Adam was set on fire.
- The windows of Seyfettin Adam's house and workplace were broken.
- The Fevzidede and Atariye neighbourhoods were besieged for three days.
And no arrests made...
According to DTP province chair Ertugrul, people bearing the flags of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and making the "Grey Wolf" sign of the ultranationalist youth movement, came from other cities to join the siege.
Abdülaziz Akyol, the president of the Bursa IHD told bianet that he had met with Bursa Governor Nihat Canpolat on Wednesday (23 October). Canpolat expressed his sorrow, but up to now no one has been arrested in relation to these attacks.
Beer and nationalism
At a meeting where professional associations, trade unions and political parties called for composure, brotherhood and peace, Günay Pank, province chair of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) said: "When it turns evening in Bursa, you meet groups with beer bottles in their hands and making the Grey Wolf sign".
Local journalist Rüstem Avci spoke with bianet. He said he had spoken to the province administration of the Nationalist Movement Party, which said that it did not approve of these groups and could not control them.
Calls for peace also targeted
Pank said that the joint call for laying down arms and for giving peace a chance was attacked by much of the local media because the terms "PKK" and "terrorism" were not used and because the DTP had also signed it. (TK/NZ)
