The barrister of the Bar of Diyarbakir Tahir Elci, renowned figure of the Kurdish issue, was shot and killed Saturday during an exchange of gunfire in unclear circumstances even in the big city of the mainly Kurdish southeast from Turkey.
A policeman was killed and ten others injured, including a journalist and at least two other members of the security forces during the shooting, do we learned from local hospital and security sources said.
After making comments about PKK on CNN Turk TV in October, Elci was detained. He was subsequently released and had been awaiting trial.
The killing took place while Tahir Elci was making a statement to the media. According to the state Anadolu news agency, it was Kurdish insurgents that opened fire, killing Elci, as well as a police officer, and injuring three other people, among them correspondents of the leading Turkish media organizations – the Anatolia and Dogan news agencies.
ahir Elci studied law in Europe and took part in many high profile cases in the Turkish courts. The lawyer was among the founding members of many human rights and non-governmental organizations.
“The moment the statement ended, the crowd was sprayed with bullets,” Reuters cited Omer Tastan, a local official from the pro-Kurdish HDP party, as saying.
“A single bullet struck Elci in the head,” Tastan said, adding that 11 people were also wounded in the incident.
Dogan News Agency recorded a video of the incident, showing a group of gunmen hiding behind the minaret of a nearby mosque close to where Elci was making his statement. When he finished speaking, the group opened fire at the lawyer and people standing beside him.