Tahir Elçi

One police officer has been killed by a shot in the head while trying to dispose a bomb in the southeastern province of Diyarbak?r, daily Hürriyet has reported. 

The policeman was trying to dispose an improvised explosive device in Diyarbak?r's Sur district, where a curfew has been in effect for eight days, when he was shot in the head in a sniper attack. 

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the Diyarbak?r Governor's Office have blamed different groups for a fire which damaged a historical mosque in the southeastern province amid new clashes between supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the security forces in the city.

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has said Turkey's judicial institutions have so far failed to take any steps to find the perpetrator of the Nov. 28 killing of Diyarbak?r Bar Association head Tahir Elçi.

A historic mosque near the murder scene of prominent lawyer Tahir Elçi in the southeastern province of Diyarbak?r has been set on fire during clashes between security forces and outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants.

Two soldiers and a policeman were killed in attacks carried out by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey's southeast on Dec. 5, security sources have said.

PKK militants shelled a car carrying soldiers in plain clothes with long-barreled weapons in ??rnak province's Cizre district, killing two soldiers and injuring two others.

Continuing terror attacks and curfews have dramatically affected economic and trade transactions in eastern Turkey since last June, as around 500 businesses have closed down only in the Sur district of southeastern Diyarbak?r since then, according to businesspeople from the region. 

The companies have lost almost 70 percent of their revenue, they added. 

A police and military operation in southeastern Diyarbak?r's Sur district, where Diyarbak?r Bar Association head Tahir Elçi was slain on Nov. 28, was ongoing on Dec. 2 amid reports of the use of heavy weaponry and injuries.

A police officer who succumbed to his injuries 21 days after being wounded in clashes withthe outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been buried in his hometown Kocaeli, in northwestern Turkey.

The murder of Tahir Elçi, the head of the Diyarbak?r Bar Association, must be enlightened, the leader of the main opposition party has said, vowing they will closely follow the investigation. 

The United Nations has condemned the killing of prominent Turkish lawyer Tahir Elçi in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, expressing its concerns about the "chilling effect" Elçi's murder may have on the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the country.