Kurdish talks intensify amid Cizre tensions

Government officials have held intensified meetings with Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputies over unrest in the southeastern district of Cizre, which has risen sharply with the recent killings of youngsters, allegedly by the police.

Deputy Prime Minister Yalç?n Akdo?an held a meeting with HDP Istanbul deputy S?rr? Süreyya Önder and HDP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair ?dris Baluken on Jan. 15 over the recent unrest in Cizre, in the province of ??rnak.

Önder and HDP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Pervin Buldan were also set to meet with Interior Minister Efkan Ala on Jan. 16 to discuss events in Cizre, as well as the ongoing Kurdish peace process.

Sources said Akdo?an criticized the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) over the increase in tension in the region. HDP officials, however, claimed that there is a group within the security forces that is aiming to sabotage the peace process following the Jan. 14 death of a 12-year-old boy, the latest teenager to die in Cizre in the past two weeks.

HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirta? also reiterated this opinion on Jan. 16, saying there was a group within the state in Cizre that was "bent on provocation." He also called on the government to remove such people who hold public posts in the town.

"There is a group within the state in Cizre. The government known who they are and it is protecting them. If they remove this group from there, the problem will be solved," Demirta? told reporters in Istanbul. 

Nihat Kazanhan, 12, was allegedly shot dead without warning by police on Jan. 14 in Cizre, which has witnessed unrest involving security forces, PKK supporters and rival Islamist Kurds. Kazanhan was laid to rest on Jan. 15 with many people attending the ceremony. ...