Secret File

Tahir Elçi was killed in Diyarbakir weeks after he said on television that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was not a terrorist organisation A prominent lawyer and human rights defender, who faced a criminal charge for supporting Kurdish rebels, has been killed in an attack in south-east Turkey in which a police officer also died, officials said. Tahir Elçi was shot on Saturday while he and other lawyers were making a press statement. Two policemen and a journalist were also injured. [Read more].

“We are all Tahir, we are all Elçi”. Thousands of people take to the streets to protest after the killing of Tahir Elçi. Photo: Erhan Demirtas/Demotix/Corbis.