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Prominent Kurdish Rights Activist Killed in Turkey's Diyarbakir

© REUTERS / Sertac Kayar/FilesTahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, (C) is applauded by his colleagues as he leaves from his office in Diyarbakir, Turkey, early October 20, 2015 in this file photo
Tahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, (C) is applauded by his colleagues as he leaves from his office in Diyarbakir, Turkey, early October 20, 2015 in this file photo - Sputnik International
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The head of the bar association in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir province was killed on Saturday in a shootout that broke out when he was speaking to the press, local media reported.

ANKARA (Sputnik) — Turkey’s Todays Zaman newspaper cited President Recep Erdogan who said that Bar Association President Tahir Elci was gunned down alongside a policeman. Several other policemen were injured.

Elci, a Kurdish rights activist, has recently been arrested by Turkish police for saying that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was not a terrorist organization, as claimed by Ankara.

Violence in Turkey escalated in July, when the Turkish government launched a military campaign against PKK, a Kurdish group fighting for independence from Turkey.

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