Angry Mob Winds Up Kurdish Deputies in Sinop

BIANET 19.2.2013 – Dozens of angry protestors has reportedly winded up Kurdish deputies at a local guesthouse in Sinop province this morning, making it impossible for deputies to leave the building due to fear of lynch.

Kurdish deputies from Peace and Democracy Party, and People’s Democratic Congress arrived in Sinop province early this morning to campaign for the ongoing negotiations between the Turkish government and PKK.

“We were planning to have a forum at a local cafe, but we were told that it has been closed due to security concerns. Then we headed to a teachers’ guesthouse and we are trapped there ever since,” Sırrı Süreyya Önder, PDP deputy, told bianet. Önder raised his concerns that the mob might have been organized. “They seem to be organized through Facebook. They had a banner that said ‘We don’t want PKK in Sinop. Get out!’. They tried to break into the guesthouse. But the police intervened. We are still waiting until the police takes full control of the mob,” Önder continued.

By 3:30 pm in local time, the talk between police and deputies still resumed.

Kurdish campaigners included deputies Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Levent Tüzel, Sebahat Tuncel and Fatma Gök, as well as local representatives of People’s Democratic Congress. The campaign which aimed to bring together people from different religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to reflect on the Kurdish issue, was set to visit northern cities in Turkey including Çorum, Sinop, Samsun, Giresun, Ordu and Trabzon between February 17 and 21. (NV)