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Viewing cable 09ADANA76, ONE STUDENT DEAD IN DIYARBAKIR STREET PROTESTS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09ADANA76 2009-12-07 15:32 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Adana
VZCZCXRO9543
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHDA #0076 3411532
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071532Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL ADANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4814
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1356
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1121
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1423
UNCLAS ADANA 000076 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PINS PGOV TU PINR
SUBJECT: ONE STUDENT DEAD IN DIYARBAKIR STREET PROTESTS 
 
1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:   The Diyarbakir chapter of the Human Rights 
Association (HRA) said police fatally shot a 23-year-old student 
during December 6 demonstrations against the ruling Justice and 
Development Party (AKP).  According to local media, clashes 
erupted when demonstrators, who had gathered to protest the 
prison conditions of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader 
Abdullah Ocalan, threw stones and fireworks at riot police 
attempting to stop their passage.  Week-long protests in heavily 
Kurdish-populated cities in Turkey's south and southeast are 
likely to continue until the Government of Turkey responds 
publicly to Ocalan's conditions of confinement.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
2.  (SBU)  President of Diyarbakir's HRA Muharrem Erbeyli said 
23-year-old student Aydin Erdem attended Dicle University.  He 
had joined a large crowd gathered in front of the AKP provincial 
headquarters to protest Ocalan's jail conditions when he was 
shot by a plainclothes police officer.  According to Erbeyli, 
the autopsy revealed Erdem was shot in the lungs at close range 
and killed by a single bullet.  Erbeyli believes law enforcement 
used disproportionate force to disperse the crowd.  Turkish 
National Police have not made any public statements about the 
student's death. 
 
 
 
3.  (SBU)  A prominent human rights attorney in Diyarbakir said 
he had witnessed the demonstrations from across the street, 
where lawmakers and members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic 
Society Party had gathered to march.  He saw police open fire in 
the air in an attempt to disperse the protesters when the crowd 
passed the police barricade.  He said in addition to the 
autopsy, a female eyewitness reportedly saw a man in a coat fire 
on Erdem at close range. 
 
 
 
4.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  Small-scale protests began a week ago in 
Mersin, Adana, Sanliurfa, Van, and Diyarbakir, with crowds 
numbering in the hundreds.  Today, thousands are pouring into 
the streets, fueled by what Erbeyli says is the government's 
perceived lack of attention to an issue that commands the 
attention of Turkey's Kurds - the prison conditions of PKK 
leader Ocalan, who was recently moved to a new cell which is 
reportedly smaller than his former cell with no eye-level 
window.  Doubtless, the PKK has a hand in escalating street 
protests, a common tactic used to flex the organization's 
political muscle and force the GOT into action.  Media report 
the AKP sent a commission to study Ocalan's prison conditions, 
but the lack of any changes has increased Kurds' anger. 
Protests will likely continue until the GOT addresses Ocalan's 
situation.  END COMMENT. 
 
DARNELL