HAKKARI (CIHAN) - The inhabitants of the eastern Turkish town of Cukurca marched on Friday following midday prayers in protest against the recent upsurge in terrorist attacks carried out by the PKK.
Waving Turkish flags and banners, some 500 people chanted slogans condemning terrorism. " "We want peace not terror," "Nothing will separate us from the state," the protesters said voicing their loyalty to the Turkish Republic.
Yesterday some 5,000 local people marched to protest against the recent upsurge in activity by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist organization - also known as the Kongra-Gel - in the southeastern Anatolian city of Þýrnak.
Çukurca Governor Ünal Coskun said that his town had lost five of its inhabitants as victims of terrorist activities.
Terrorist attacks by the PKK have increased recently in the southeastern region of Turkey following the ending of the unilateral PKK/KONGRA-GEL ceasefire on June 1, which had lasted six years.
A few hundred PKK terrorists are believed to be active in eastern Turkey. However, intelligence sources say that many more PKK militants, up to 1,500, have infiltrated Turkey from neighboring Iraq in recent weeks. Since June, nearly 25 security officers have died while 53 rebels have been killed in clashes.
The separatist activities of the outlawed PKK/KADEK terrorist organization claimed nearly 30,000 lives in the region up to the late nineties. However, the activities of the organization declined sharply following the capture of leader Abdullah Öcalan in February 1999.
The European Union has also included the outlawed pro-Kurdish terrorist organizations Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK) and Kurdistan People's Congress (KONGRA-GEL) in its official list of terrorist organizations.