Elci, head of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, was killed Saturday during a gun battle in the Sur district of Diyarbakir.
Advertisement
Dogan News Agency reported that two police officers sustained injuries when an investigative team went to visit the site of the attack and came under fire.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was saddened by the death of Mr Elci.
Turkey’s president vows to continue fighting “terrorism” after a shootout left a leading Kurdish human rights activist dead.
“This is just a part of the job”, Elci said this month.
In a press release, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) blamed the incident on the government, adding that it was a planned assassination.
Police also clashed with protesters in Diyarbakir, an AFP photographer said, and there were also protests in the capital Ankara and western port city of Izmir, according to Turkish media.
He was detained on October 19 after he stated in the media that Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) should not be considered as a terrorist organisation, although he denounced PKK violence.
Elci’s body was taken from a local hospital and taken to the Human Rights Monument in Diyarbakir in funeral cortege where banners read, “We will never forget you” in Turkish and Kurdish.
He said authorities believe that Elci was caught in the crossfire, but were not ruling out “the possibility that a third party directly targeted him”.
Police surveillance camera footage shows a large yellow cab arriving at the scene and policemen running towards it. They are fired at from inside the cab as one of them opens the door, and two policemen fall to the ground as the cab passengers run away.
Turkey has become embroiled in a renewed conflict with Kurdish militants following this summer’s breakdown of a two-year-old cease-fire and amid a freeze on peace talks. Two police officers were killed and one wounded, and the governorate declared a curfew from 1 p.m. onward.
“The PKK is a political movement which has important political demands and which enjoys widespread support, even if some of its actions are of a terrorist nature”, he had told CNN Turk television, sparking anger.
Advertisement
Hundreds of people that too to the streets to protest against the killing, were then tear gassed and water cannoned by Turkish security forces.
