Turkish police detain Kurdish h

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

Subject: Re: Turkish police detain Kurdish hunger strikers

, 16 Aug 1995 16:01:17 -0800

Turkish police detain Kurdish hunger strikers

    ISTANBUL, Aug 9 (Reuter) - Turkish police detained 34
Kurdish hunger strikers on Wednesday in a dawn raid on the
Istanbul headquarters of the pro-Islamic Welfare Party (RP),
Kurdish activists said.
    The protesters, on temporary hunger strike, had taken over
the building on Sunday to draw attention to a three-week-old
hunger strike by thousands of Kurdish rebel prisoners.
    Hayri Demirel, a member of a Kurdish prisoner solidarity
committee, told Reuters that RP officials called for police help
after the strikers had refused to leave the building.
    The semi-official Anatolian news agency said police raided
the building at 5 a.m. (0200 GMT).
    Relatives and friends of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
prisoners on hunger strike in Turkish jails have staged sympathy
strikes and occupied buildings throughout the country.
    More than 8,000 imprisoned members of the PKK -- fighting an
11-year-old battle for independence or autonomy in southeast
Turkey -- began the strike on July 14 to press for talks to end
the conflict. Two people have died in the protest.
    Dozens of other Kurds, mainly women and children, are on a
related hunger strike at the offices of a left-wing party in
Istanbul. Hunger strikes in Turkey rarely end in deaths.
    Recent violence against Turkish property in Germany has been
linked to Kurdish militants, who have also staged sympathy
hunger strikes across Europe.
Reut06:27 08-09-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service

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