International Shia News Agency

Youth killed in clashes in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast

SHAFAQNA – A 14-year-old boy was shot dead during clashes between police and Kurdish protesters in southeastern Turkey on Tuesday evening, and another man was wounded, security sources said.It was the latest in a series of deaths highlighting the fragility of a two-year-old peace process between the government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a militant group that has waged a three-decade insurgency in pursuit of greater autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds.

The protests took place in Cizre, a mainly Kurdish town near Turkey’s borders with Iraq and Syria, where supporters of Kurdish Islamist party Huda-Par and youth groups linked to the PKK have clashed in recent weeks.

There was no indication that Huda-Par was involved in Tuesday’s clashes.

The dead youth suffered a gunshot wound in the chest and was taken to hospital where he died, the security sources said. The Dogan news agency cited friends and colleagues as saying he was shot by police while returning home from work.

A 28-year-old man was also shot in the back and is undergoing treatment, the security sources said.

In October, dozens were killed during unrest in the region fueled by rage among Kurds at what they see as the government’s failure to help Syrian Kurds fighting Islamic State jihadists in the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani.

The violence has complicated efforts to end the PKK’s 30-year-old insurgency, in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and European Union.

Source : Reuters.com

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