Kurdish youth murdered by German po

[DEBRA at OLN.comlink.apc.org]

## Original in: /HRNET/EUROPE&MIDEAST
## author     : OMEGA at VLBERLIN.comlink.de
## date       : 07.07.94

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## Message written on 06.07.94
## writer : Infoladen Omega Berlin at 69:1/99.1

Kurdish youth murdered by German police

Close to midnight on Thursday, June 30, a 15-year old
Kurdish asylum-seeker was shot in the back and killed by a
plainclothes police officer in the German city of Hannover.
The youth, Halim Deren (Ayhan Eser), was out with five
friends hanging ERNK (National Liberation Front of
Kurdistan) posters. When a police car passed by, the youths
split up. Once the car was out of sight, Halim and a friend
continued postering. Then, two plainclothes officers
surprised the boys and attempted to arrest them, but both
were able to flee. Seconds later, a shot rang out, and Halim
was dead with a bullet in his back. The police are calling
this murder "an accident".

Halim and his family had only arrived in Germany six weeks
before, at the end of May, after fleeing from the Kurdish
village of Parcuk in the province of Bingol. The village of
Parcuk, like so many others in Kurdistan, had been
de-populated and then destroyed by the Turkish army.

On the Saturday following Halim's murder, spontaneous
demonstrations were held in several German cities. In
Hannover, more than 1000 people held a march to protest
Halim's murder. Marchers carried photos of Halim, as well as
flags and posters of the ERNK, an organization which was
outlawed in Germany along with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers'
Party) and more than 30 other Kurdish organizations in
November 1993. The marchers also demanded the resignation of
German interior minister Kanther who was responsible for the
banning of the PKK/ERNK. Later Saturday night, police
vehicals and police stations in Hannover, Osnabrueck,
Oldenburg, and Braunscheig were attacked with stones and
molotov cocktails. In Berlin, a Turkish travel agency was
fire bombed, and more that two dozen stores in different
parts of the city had their windows smashed.

On Monday, July 4, close to 1500 people held a demonstration
in Berlin to protest Halim's murder. Police threatened to
attack the demonstration at several points, because marchers
were carrying ERNK posters (the same poster Halim was
hanging when he was murdered). But the demonstrators
continued to wave the ERNK posters and chant slogans in
support of the outlawed PKK and were able to complete the
demo route unhindered. After the demonstration had ended,
however, riot police changed groups of people as they
attempted to board subways trains. Several people were
injured. In Kiel, Kurds drove a convoy of approximatley 20
cars through the city streets waving PKK flags and
denouncing the police murder of Halim Deren. Police arrested
11 Kurds during this action. Other actions and
demonstrations were held in Hamburg and several other cities
as well.

Also on July 4, approximately 50 ERNK supporters occupied
the German embassy in Athens, Greece, to protest Halim's
murder. After about two hours, the demonstrators left the
embassy. There were no arrests.

A nation-wide demonstration to protest the murder of Halim
Deren and in support of the national liberation struggle in
Kurdistan will be held in Hannover on Saturday, July 9.

The ERNK has issued a statement calling on the German police
to issue a full and uncondition apology for Halim's murder,
otherwise the Kurdish resistance will be forced to respond
with "similar means".

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