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| The Grand Turk |
| Deaths, injuries in car bombing in Turkey; Kurdish legislators held |
| 2016-11-05 |
| [AlAhram] A large kaboom, caused by a boom-mobile, hit the largest city in ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's mainly Kurdish southeast region on Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish politicians for questioning in terror-related probes. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said both police and non-combatants were killed in the attack but did not say how many. The state-run Anadolu Agency said one person was killed and some 30 others were maimed. The blast occurred in Diyarbakir's Baglar district, near a building used by the riot police. The Diyarbakir governor's office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, had claimed the attack. Anadolu said the attack was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives. The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out. Hours earlier, police detained 11 politicians from the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party's two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with co-chair Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: "Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant." State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara. Other bigwigs taken away included Sirri Sureyya Onder and Idris Baluken. A twelfth politician was also detained during the day. An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the politicians were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one. Anadolu reported the politicians were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations. The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish politicians on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting politicians from prosecution were lifted in May. Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP politicians following the lifting of immunity, including "disseminating terrorist propaganda" and "membership in an armed terrorist organization." Demirtas reportedly reacted to the lifting of immunity by saying none of his fellow party members would voluntarily appear in court to testify. "If they want our testimony they'll have to force us there," he said, according to Anadolu. Justice Minister Bozdag defended the detentions in a speech Friday, "The politicians that were detained did not help the legal process to proceed, they did not recognize the law. They did not respect the law." Earlier this week Gultan Kisanak, the HDP mayor of the largest predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, along with co-mayor Firat Anli, was tossed in the calaboose Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! over alleged membership in the PKK. In September, the government similarly ousted 28 mayors and other administrators, mostly from the HDP, and appointed trustees in their place. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Totalitarian march in the Sultanate of Erdogan continues. The silence imposed on the press. Any non-compliant judges and police officials shortly purge. They closed off the internet and opponent rely on it. All the bad things in the blame on the Kurds. Now they are criminalizing to be Kurdish political opponent of Erdogan. Being Kurd will be a crime next. How long until that fascisti Turkey began with a march of death to camps as the Armenians? They will slave or kill all they can. Freedom is all Kurds want. Why does the USA not care? |
| Posted by: Snolusing Protector of the Platypi1721 2016-11-05 13:49 |