Heurts entre Turcs et Kurdes après la mort de quatre policiers

Reuters

27/07/2010

Des policiers ont fait usage de gaz lacrymogènes mardi pour mettre fin à des heurts entre manifestants turcs et kurdes dans le sud de la Turquie.

Ces heurts faisaient suite à des affrontements ethniques analogues, survenus la veille dans le nord-ouest du pays.

Le ministre de l’Intérieur Besir Atalay a accusé des provocateurs d’être à l’origine des violences, alors que le pays se prépare à un référendum national sur une réforme constitutionnelle, en septembre, et à des élections législatives l’année prochaine.

Lundi soir, des individus armés ont ouvert le feu sur un véhicule de la police, à Dortyol dans la province de Hatay dans le sud de la Turquie. Quatre agents qui se trouvaient à bord ont été tués. C’est cet incident qui est à l’origine des heurts de mardi entre Turcs et Kurdes.

L’agence de presse officielle turque Anatolie rapporte que certains manifestants ont scandé des slogans en langue kurde, en soutien au chef emprisonné du PKK Abdullah Öcalan.

Des manifestants turcs ont ensuite mis le feu aux bureaux de la section locale du Parti Paix et démocratie, pro-kurde, ainsi qu’à des intérêts kurdes à Dortyol, a rapporté la chaîne NTV.

Dans la foulée de l’attaque meurtrière de lundi contre des policiers, le ministre de l’Intérieur Besir Atalay s’est engagé, lors d’une cérémonie à la mémoire des victimes, à éradiquer la présence des militants du PKK (Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan) dans les monts Amanos, non loin de la frontière syrienne.

Six soldats avaient été tués par un tir de roquette du PKK dans le district d’Iskenderun, dans la province de Hatay, à la fin du mois de mai.

Les affrontements dans les monts Hatay, lundi, ont eu lieu au lendemain de heurts ethniques à l’autre bout du pays, à Inegol dans la province de Bursa, à la suite d’une querelle dans un café-restaurant. Cinq personnes ont été blessées à l’arme blanche dans cette rixe.

A la suite des heurts à Inegol, des centaines de personnes se sont rassemblées et ont caillassé la mairie en exigeant de la police qu’elle livre les agresseurs. Les manifestants ont mis le feu à des véhicules et érigé des barricades, et les heurts se sont poursuivis pendant la nuit.

« Répétition de guerre civile« , titrait mardi le journal Taraf à propos des heurts d’Inegol, où, selon l’agence Anatolie, 51 personnes ont été interpellées.

Le PKK, qui a pris les armes en 1984, a annoncé le 1er juin qu’il mettait fin au cessez-le-feu unilatéral proclamé voici près d’un an, cela en raison des opérations militaires déclenchées contre ses activistes.

Daren Butler, Eric Faye pour le service français

Town becomes a battlefield as scuffle turns into riot

todayszaman.com

27 07 2010

A quarrel in a small coffeehouse in İnegöl, Bursa province, turned bloody when three individuals armed with knives and sticks attacked several people late Sunday night.

Three men, Mehmet Şerif S. (23), Mehmet S. (31) and Şenol S. (25), entered a coffeehouse in İnegöl’s Orhaniye district and had a quarrel, in which Selahattin O. (26), Metin B. (36) and Şaban D. (47) died. People wounded in the altercation were hospitalized, and the three assailants as well as several others believed to have started riots in the town were detained. Locals said the quarrel was a result of animosity between two families, one of them from southeastern Turkey. As families of the wounded gathered in the İnegöl Police Station, news that some of the wounded had died came from the hospital.

Hundreds of people then stoned the town’s municipal building, demanding that the police hand over the attackers. Locals report alcohol was involved.

The attackers set police cars on fire, broke the windows of a bank and threw stones at ambulances. The incidents led to the closing down of the Bursa-Ankara highway. Police have taken further precautions in the town and received backup riot police to quell the unrest. It took the police until 4 a.m. Monday to convince the rioters to stop their demonstration. Approximately 20 police officers were wounded, with some of them in need of hospitalization.

Bursa Governor Şahabettin Harput, on a visit to the town following the riots, said more people will be detained in connection with the outbreak of violence after security camera footage is reviewed.

“Several police officers were wounded in the incidents. The city’s police station and municipal building were attacked. Some vehicles were destroyed. There is no explanation for that. It is not true that the incidents were caused by a youth group. There was probably a provocation behind this incident,” he said.

After Harput’s statement, 25 more people were detained. Police said more are likely to be taken in as security camera footage is inspected.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Bursa deputy Sedat Kızılcıklı said the incident grew from a scuffle caused by a few people. “The incident grew because alcohol and provocations were involved,” he told the Anatolia news agency. Kızılcıklı added that the cause of the incident has yet to be determined and that an investigation into the incident continues.

Kızılcıklı also said the incident seems to have mutated into a Kurdish-Turkish fight because of provocations. İnegöl Mayor Alinur Aktaş said migrants have come to the town from all over Turkey but that they had never before experienced an incident of these proportions.

The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has decided to send a committee to the town and form an intra-party commission to investigate the incident. On Monday morning, locals called for common sense to prevail as they cleaned up the debris left from the bloody conflict. Restaurant manager Şahin Okutulmuş said he was saddened by the events. “We have been living together with the Kurds, the Laz and the Circassians in İnegöl for years. Some people are trying to break up our friendship,” he said. Retired teacher Ayşe Kılıç said the incidents reminded her of the times prior to the 1980 military coup.

Interior minister says people will go to polls without fear

Interior Minister Beşir Atalay said yesterday that the government would not allow provocations. “We are especially sensitive before the date on which our nation will vote on a referendum,” he told the press, referring to the government’s constitutional amendment package slated to go to a national vote on Sept. 12. Atalay added that the government has cut leave time for the police, gendarmerie and district officials of İnegöl, and appointed an inspector to investigate the events.

“We will ensure a peaceful environment before the vote takes place,” he said.

Bursa tuned into battlefield between Kurds and Turks

news.am

july 26, 2010

Clashes between Kurds and local nationalists in the Turkish city of Bursa turned into a real battle (photo).

According to Internethaber website, young people stopped a minibus with Kurdish driver. They argued and the driver was beaten. Thereafter, he left and came back with his friends who entered the café of Turkish nationalists and injured 5 people with a knife.

After numerous arrests the tension increased. People took to the streets and police started firing to disperse the crowd. As a result, 6 police cars were turned up and over 20 policemen injured. The crowd attacked the houses and shops owned by Kurds.

The highways leading to Bursa and Eskisehir from Inegol were blocked by Kurds to prevent the arrival of Turkish nationalists at the site.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 27 juillet 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots