Turkey clamps down on mass Kurdish rally

[SOncu@xxxxxxx]

Rob,

I understand very well what you mean when you say being Australian is getting
difficult. Take a look at what is below to see how difficult it already is to
be Turkish.

Sabri Oncu

+++++++

Turkey clamps down on mass Kurdish rally

By Ufuk Utkan


ANKARA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Prison cells in the Turkish capital Ankara
overflowed on Saturday as police detained thousands of Kurds in a bid to stop
a Kurdish rally planned for the city.

In Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, police fired teargas grenades and chased
away groups of some 2,000 Kurds who had gathered to demonstrate in a suburb.

Ankara officials sent detained protesters by bus to police stations in nearby
regions after cells in the city were filled. At least 700 were arrested.

Thousands of Ankara police, reinforced by colleagues from nearby towns and
backed by armoured cars and riot squads, had patrolled city streets, checking
identity papers and detaining hundreds of people, most of whom surrendered to
police without a struggle.

The People's Democracy Party (HADEP), which campaigns for Kurdish rights,
eventually cancelled plans to hold a rally in the city, where officials had
banned any mass gathering.

A HADEP spokeswoman said one party supporter died late on Friday, falling to
his death down a ventilation shaft in a party building in Istanbul where he
had taken refuge from police. She said the accident happened after police
broke up a 200-strong group of HADEP supporters about to board buses for
Ankara.

"They have arrested drivers, confiscated documents and driving licences. They
have told bus firms we had contracted that they were going nowhere," the
spokeswoman said. "This is directly concerned with our right to freedom of
movement."

TEARGAS GRENADES

In Istanbul, police chased and fired teargas at a group of demonstrators as
they were dispersing after a rally of some 2,000 in the Topkapi district of
the city. HADEP officials said around 200 people had been detained.

In the southeastern city of Batman around 20 people were injured as police
broke up a gathering of HADEP supporters, the Anatolian news agency said.

World Peace Day on September 1 has become a traditional protest day for
Kurdish activists who want cultural rights, or autonomy, for Turkey's 12
million Kurds.

Their immediate demands include free use of Kurdish in education and
broadcasting, aims shared by the European Union which Turkey wants to join.

The day is also the second anniversary of a move by Kurdish rebels to abandon
their armed struggle with security forces.

HADEP had aimed to bring 100,000 people together for the rally, but that
total looks unlikely now. HADEP officials said around 1,000 had been arrested
in Istanbul alone.

Police fired in the air on Friday afternoon in the mainly Kurdish
southeastern city of Diyarbakir to disperse up to 3,000 people chanting
slogans in support of jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Ocalan issued orders from a Turkish jail in 1999, telling his Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) to withdraw from Turkey and give up its armed struggle
with security forces by September 1.

Since then, fighting between Turkish forces and the PKK has dwindled,
although Turkey says the unilateral PKK pullout is a ploy and refused to
recognise any ceasefire.

The PKK says it has abandoned its armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland and
now campaigns peacefully for Kurdish cultural rights within Turkey.