Turkish Kurds Clash with the Police Over Disqualification of 12 Kurd Candidates from National Elections

Protest in Diyarbakir (online.wsj.com)

One person died in clashes between Turkish police and Kurdish protestors on Wednesday in the southeastern part of Turkey, and the escalated political tension, caused by the disqualification of 12 Kurdish parliamentary candidates for the national ballots in June, caused a top Kurdish politician to cancel meeting with the president Abdullah Gul.

According to the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, with seven out of the 12 disqualified candidates, thousands of people have demonstrated in the largest city of the Kurdish-dominated southeast, Diyarbakir.

The spokesman for this party said that one man was shot in the chest by the police, and that others could have been hurt, while hundreds were arrested.

Map of Turkey (online.wsj.com)

The police headquarters in this city did not confirm, nor did they deny the news about the death of that person.

Co-chairman of the Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party was expected to meet Abdullah Gul to discuss why the candidates were not allowed to participate in the national elections in June.

This is the second day of protest after the unrest across Turkey on Tuesday, and comes at a time when the tension from the previous day seemed to ease.

There were even statements of the election commission that were saying that appeals against the decision to disqualify candidates would be taken into account.

The main reason that led to disqualification was previous involvement in terrorist actions.

Turkish political leaders pleaded in favor of softening this position and finding a way to solve the matter of disqualifying these candidates, an action that would pile up more tension in a region simmering already.