Prominent Kurdish lawyer shot dead in Diyarbekir
DIYARBEKIR (K24) - The head of Diyarbekir Bar Association Tahir Elci was killed on Saturday morning in the clashes between Turkish police and PKK-affiliated youth in the Kurdish city of Diyarbekir, North Kurdistan.
49-years-old Tahir Elci was in the Sur district of the city when clashes broke out. Shortly after, Tahir Elci was shot dead in the head. The father of two, Mr. Elci was there to issue a media statement regarding the damage received by "Minareya Çarling" (the Four-legged Minaret Mosque) a 16th century landmark, during clashes earlier this week.
K24 correspondent in Diyarbekir said one member of the PKK youth wing, Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) and a Turkish police also were killed. He said ten others, including a journalist, have been wounded.
Tahir Elci had been detained in Diyarbekir on November 20 after saying the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose guerrillas are battling Turkish government forces, is not a terrorist group. An Istanbul court later ordered his release pending the trial, on condition that he not leave the country and that he report regularly to the authorities, his lawyer Mehmet Emin Aktar said.
(Hesen Kako and Siddiq Eren contributed to this report from Diyarbekir)
Still images obtained from a video by the Turkish DHA news agency show the moments before Tahir Elci was killed.
In the first image Tahir Elci is seen (right, behind a cameraman).
