Güncelleme Tarihi:
The demonstrator Ikbal Yasar died Sunday in eastern Turkey as clashes between Kurdish protestors and the police continued for the fourth straight day , hospital sources said. The 20-year-old died of a bullet wound in the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari province, which borders Iran and Iraq, after clashes erupted Sunday when a crowd of demonstrators defied an official ban on a planned gathering to mark Newroz, or the Kurdish New Year, they said. �
During the clashes in Yuksekova 12 people were also wounded.
The 35-year-old demonstrator Zeki Erinc died earlier from injuries sustained in clashes between Kurdish protestors and the police in the eastern Turkish city of Van after he had been hospitalised Saturday with a bullet wound, government and health officials said. An official from the Van governors office confirmed the death, but was unable to provide details on the nature of his injuries.
On Sunday, police broke up a crowd of stone-throwing protesters in the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari province, firing into the air and using tear gas and truncheons, private Dogan news agency reported.
The crowd, mostly members of the DTP, which faces closure on charges of ties to PKK -outlawed Kurdish separatists- was protesting the killing of a Kurdish man in the eastern city of Van.
Some Kurds use the festival to highlight their demand for autonomy. The clashes in Van and Yuksekova erupted after the protesters shouted slogans in support of PKK and imprisoned outlawed separatists' leader Abdullah Ocalan.
On Saturday the police intervened when demonstrators, who gathered in front of the pro-Kurdish party DTP building, chanted slogans supporting PKK. The police fired water cannons, tear gas and warning shots in the air to disperse around 3,000 demonstrators who threw stones at the policemen. Police Commissioner Mehmet Salih Kesmez said 15 policemen and 38 demonstrators were wounded while 130 demonstrators were detained during the demonstrations in Van.
On the same day, during the unofficial Newroz demonstrations in front of DTP building similar unrest broke out in Hakkari. 12 people, including two policemen, were wounded. 30 demonstrators were detained during the demonstrations in Hakkari, Dogan news agency reported.