A prominent human rights lawyer was fatally shot Saturday while delivering a press statement in Diyarbakir, Turkey.
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Tahir Elci, president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association in southeastern Turkey, was shot as gunmen opened fire in the district of Sur.
One police officer was killed and three others wounded in the attack, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Elci has been criticised for saying the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was not a terrorist group.
Security sources have pinned the attack on the terrorist organization PKK.
A statement from Diyarbakir’s chief prosecutor’s office said the bullet hit Elci in the neck and exited above his left eye.
Marchers in central Istanbul chanted: “Shoulder to shoulder against fascism” and “Tahir Elci is immortal”. Protesters threw Molotov cocktails and fireworks at police who responded with water cannon and tear gas.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party termed Elci’s killing a “planned assassination” and urged citizens, civil society groups and parties to protest.
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.
Plain-clothed police are seen shooting at two men running towards Elci, but a moment later the lawyer is seen lying face down on the ground, with a pistol next to his body.
Tahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, speaks to the…
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu immediately condemned Mr. Elci’s shooting and called for calm while security officials investigate the attack. The government has promised a transparent investigation into Elci’s death.
Before his death, Elci had been under threat of imprisonment for comments made on CNN Turk in October in which he said that the PKK was “not a terror organisation”.
Elci was a lead attorney in many cases dealing with Kurdish issues, including the deaths of 35 civilians in a 2011 airstrike in Uludere. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the US, European Union and Turkey.
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“We do not want guns, clashes or operations here”.
