Free Republic

A day after Turkey arrested two journalists for their report exposing Erdogan's weapons deliveries to "extremist groups" in Syria, confirming that no dissent to the president's foreign policy would be allowed, today a new riot has erupted in Istanbul following the dramatic murder in broad daylight of Tahir Elci, the president of the Turkish bar association in southeastern Diyarbakir province, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while giving a public speech. A campaigner for Kurdish rights, Elci had been criticized for challenging Turkey's official stance of calling the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) a terrorist organization. A Turkish prosecutor last...

ISTANBUL--A prominent human-rights lawyer was shot dead on Saturday after wrapping up a news conference in which he had appealed for calm, sparking fresh protests across the country and clouding efforts to bring a halt to continuing violence in Turkey's Kurdish southeast. Tahir Elci, one of the country's best-known advocates for Kurdish rights, was shot in the head during a chaotic gunbattle in Diyarbakir, the de facto capital for Turkey's Kurdish minority, which broke out after the killing of a policeman. It was unknown who fired the shot that killed Mr. Elci, though Kurdish politicians believe he was shot deliberately.

A Turkish official says a prominent lawyer, who faced a prison term on charges of supporting Turkey's Kurdish rebels, has been killed in attack. Firat Anli, mayor of Diyarbakir city, said Tahir Elci was shot on Saturday while he was making a press statement. Elci, the head of the bar association in the mainly Kurdish city, was detained last month for saying during a live news program that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is not a terrorist organization.