MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-KURDS-FRANCE Kurds rally in Paris denouncing Turkish government's policies

Record ID: 144677

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-KURDS-FRANCE Kurds rally in Paris denouncing Turkish government's policies
  • Date: 8th August 2015
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (AUGUST 8, 2015) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING BANNER READING (French): "FREEDOM FOR (PKK PARTY LEADER ABDULLAH) OCALAN. PEACE IN KURDISTAN" DEMONSTRATOR CHANTING DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING PLACARDS PLACARDS READING (French): "DEMOCRATIC AUTONOMY FOR KURDISTAN" AND "WE EXIST THEREFORE WE RESIST" VARIOUS OF PLACARD READING (French): "NEW MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS I
  • Embargoed: 23rd August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC29DDFA5J7HPD36FFFY4LZGB3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Several hundred French Kurds demonstrated in Paris on Saturday (August 8), denouncing the policies of the Turkish government and saying all the community wanted was peace for the Middle East.
    The march, from the Place de la Republique in the centre of the city, came amid a recent upsurge of violence in the region with six people killed in clashes between security forces and militants in the mainly Kurdish southeast on Friday (August 7).
    Carrying banners reading "Democratic autonomy for Kurdistan" and "We exist therefore we resist", protesters chanted slogans calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a murderer.
    Representative of the Democratic Council of Kurdistan in Paris, Yekbun Eksen, said it was up to the government to embrace the now fragile peace process.
    "Turkey has to change, has to stop its anti-Kurdish policy, because it also obscures the other threats in the region, like Daesh (Islamic State), and it's an obstacle for peace in the Middle East, it's an obstacle for peace in Turkey, for all people living in Turkey," he said.
    Violence has swept eastern Turkey since last month when the outlawed PKK ramped up attacks on security forces and Ankara launched reciprocal air strikes against the militants in Turkey and northern Iraq.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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