Clashes in Berlin
October 29, 2007
"The conflict in the border region to Iraq has already spilled over to Berlin," Claudia Schmid, the Berlin head of Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Office to Protect the Constitution, told broadcaster RBB on Monday.
The clashes took place in Berlin's Kreuzberg district on Sunday at the end of a demonstration by Turkish nationalists with the slogan "Unity and Fraternity between Turks and Kurds."
Turks started to "hunt" Kurds, according to Germany's police union DPOIG. Only the force of a massive police presence had prevented people from using weapons, the DPOIG said, according to the Associated Press.
Schimd said 15 demonstrators had been arrested and 18 police officers injured in the unrest between nationalistic Turks and Kurds in Kreuzberg, which has a large immigrant population.
PKK in Berlin
More "emotional unrest" between Turks and Kurds was likely, she said, adding that around 1,000 people in Berlin were associated with the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is banned in Turkey.
The PKK has been waging a bloody campaign for self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1974. It took up arms in 1984, aiming to create an ethnic homeland in the region. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
Turkey's parliament recently authorized the military to carry out cross-border offensives against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq after a surge in attacks on Turkish soil.
Talks between Ankara and Baghdad aimed at preventing the PKK from attacking from northern Iraq and avoiding cross-border military operations broke down on Friday after Turkey called Iraqi proposals ineffective.