Alwaght- A prominent Kurdish lawyer has been assassinated in southeastern Turkey in an incident likely to escalate tensions in the country.
The president of the bar association in southeastern Diyarbakir province has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen while giving a public speech.
A campaigner for Kurdish rights, Tahir Elci had been criticized for challenging Turkey's official stance of calling the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) a terrorist organization
Elci died of gunshots to the head, hospital sources confirmed. After making comments about PKK in October, Elci was detained. He was subsequently released and had been awaiting trial.
The killing took place while Tahir Elci was making a statement to the media. Two policemen were also killed in the attack, officials said, adding that one officer had been shot dead on the spot while another died of his injuries later in hospital.
The pro-Kurdish HDP Party called the killing of Tahir Elci a "planned assassination" and urged people to protest. Hundreds of people have been killed since a ceasefire between the PKK and Turkish security forces collapsed in July, reigniting a conflict in which some 40,000 people have died since it began in 1984.
Kurdish forces are fighting ISIS Takfiri terrorist group in both Iraq and Syria, making them an force in the war against the terrorists -- something Turkey fears could embolden its own Kurdish minority.
Hours after Elci's death, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of people marching in Istanbul to protest against the killing. The marchers chanted: "Shoulder to shoulder against fascism," and "Tahir Elci is immortal."
The pro-Kurdish HDP, whose initials stand for Peoples' Democratic Party, called a demonstration in Istanbul.
"In the place left by Tahir Elci, thousands more Tahir Elcis will carry on the work in the struggle for law and justice," it said in a statement.
The HDP said Elci had been targeted by the ruling AK party and its media, and called for political parties, civil society and professional groups to "raise their voices" in protest.
Last Sunday Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition leader survived an apparent assassination attempt after his car was hit by a bullet. The bullet-proof car of Selahattin Demirtas, leader of the HDP, was hit once as he and his security team were driving in the city of Diyarbakir in the largely Kurdish southeast of the country, the spokesman said.
A two-year ceasefire between the Kurdish militant group PKK and Turkey collapsed in July this year. The PKK insurgency, largely fought in southeastern Turkey, has killed some 40,000 people since 1984. The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since 1980s.
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In Focus
Ansarullah
A Zaidi Shiite movement operating in Yemen. It seeks to establish a democratic government in Yemen.
Shiite
represents the second largest denomination of Islam. Shiites believe Ali (peace be upon him) to be prophet"s successor in the Caliphate.
Resistance
Axis of Resistances refers to countries and movements with common political goal, i.e., resisting against Zionist regime, America and other western powers. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Palestine are considered as the Axis of Resistance.
Persian Gulf Cooperation Council
A regional political u n i o n consisting of Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq.
Taliban
Taliban is a Sunni fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan. It was founded by Mohammed Omar in 1994.
Wahhabism & Extremism
Wahhabism is an extremist pseudo-Sunni movement, which labels non-Wahhabi Muslims as apostates thus paving the way for their bloodshed.
Kurds
Kurds are an ethnic group in the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region, which spans adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They are an Iranian people and speak the Kurdish languages, which form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian branch of Iranian languages.
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.
Islamic Awakening
Refers to a revival of the Islam throughout the world, that began in 1979 by Iranian Revolution that established an Islamic republic.
Al-Qaeda
A militant Sunni organization founded by Osama bin Laden at some point between 1988 and 1989
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