Silence Guns for Democratic Elections

Ahmet Türk, the co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) and independent candidate in Diyarbakir in the upcoming general elections, has called on both the PKK and the army to "do their bit" to ensure that the general elections in July will take place democratically.

Yesterday's attack on a gendarmerie station in Tunceli in the East of Turkey has left seven soldiers dead and seven more injured.

The army is currently launching a military operation with 50,000 soldiers. According to the pro-Kurdish "Gündem" newspaper, the PKK has declared that the attack was a protest against these military operations.

Violence will harm election process

Together with Orhan Miroglu, an independent candidate for Mersin in the South of Turkey and Prof. Dr. Büsra Ersanli, Türk had taken part in a conference on peace in Turkey in January of this year.

Miroglu is of the opinion that violence will harm the independent candidate project, while Ersanli warned that an increase in militarism narrowed the political field.

345 deaths in 2006

The Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) denounced the PKK's attack in Tunceli for destroying hopes for conciliatory co-existence and imminent peace. The foundation stated that 345 people died in combat in 2006, and a further 321 were wounded. (TK/AG/EÜ)