ANKARA,
July 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At
least 18 Kurds died Friday, June 2, when a tremor
hit a rural area near the Iranian border, while six
others were killed in a car bombing in the eastern
city of Van.
The
quake, which registered 5.1 on the Richter scale
according to the French Earth Science observatory in
Strasbourg
, hit at
1:30 am
(2230 GMT) near the town of
Dogubeyazit
, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
small
village
of
Yigincali
was the worst hit with 18 killed there, provincial
governor Huseyin Yavuzdemir told the NTV television
channel.
Rescue
work in the houses -- which were all made of mud --
has been completed and the toll should not climb any
higher, he added.
"These
houses cannot withstand an earthquake,"
Yavuzdemir said.
According
to the
Anatolia
news agency all 67 houses in the village, located
some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Iranian
border, were damaged by the quake.
The
majority of the some 700 inhabitants had left the
village to take their animals to summer pastures,
the governor said.
Otherwise
the toll would have been much higher, he added.
The
army sent rescue teams to the region, and Red
Crescent workers were also dispatched. Some 40 tents
have been set up to accommodate survivors.
Turkey
is crossed by several major fault lines, and
earthquakes are a frequent occurrence.
The
worst in recent years was in August and September
1999, when two quakes, one measuring 7.4 on the
Richter scale struck northwestern Turkey and
southeastern Greece, killing more than 20,000
people.
The
worst tremor in modern times was in December 1939,
when a 7.9 quake struck eastern
Turkey
, leaving some 45,000 people dead.
Car
Bombing
Meanwhile,
a car bomb ripped through a street in Van in an
apparent attack on the local governor, Hikmet Tan.
The
death toll rose to six dead and 23 injured, a
spokesperson for the governor's office told AFP.
The
earlier toll had stood at five killed and 24
injured.
Tan,
who escaped injured, told reporters his car was
badly damaged in the blast in the city of
Van
, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of the Iranian
border.
He
recalled that his police escort managed to speed
away from the downtown area where the attack
occurred.
"According
to the information we have, the bomb which exploded
in a car soon after the governor's car passed by was
remote-controlled," Interior Minister
Abdulkadir Aksu told
Anatolia
news agency.
"As
a result of this explosion, the car which contained
the bomb was torn apart, two cars nearby were
damaged and there is also damage to the windows and
body of the governor's car," he said.
"This
attack is aimed at disturbing the atmosphere of
peace, order and security in our country. But
everyone should stay assured that the atmosphere of
peace will continue," he added.
Kurds
Fingered
"Our
impression is that the attack was carried out by the
PKK", the Kurdish rebels of the former
Kurdistan People's Party (PKK), renamed Kongra-Gel,
police spokesman Ramazan Er told a press conference
in Ankara.
A
year ago, Kurdish rebels attempted to ambush another
Turkish governor, on a mountain road in Tunceli
province.
Two
soldiers in the leading escort vehicle were killed
in the exchange of gunfire.
However,
Four Kurdish rights activists and former members of
parliament, recently released from prison, condemned
the Friday's attack in a statement sent to AFP.
"We
condemn the attack... and extend our condolences to
the victims," said the statement issued by
Leyna Zana and three other former MPs released last
month after 10 years in jail for alleged links with
the PKK, pending an appeal of their case.
The
PKK led a 15-year armed campaign for self-rule in
Turkey
's southeast until 1999 when it announced a
unilateral truce following the capture of its leader
Abdulah Ocalan.
The
fighting had left some 37,000 dead, most of them
Kurds.
On
June 1 the group cancelled its truce, saying it had
become meaningless because of what it said were
"annihilation operations" by Turkish
security forces against its fighters.
Clashes
in
Turkey
's southeast have since sharply increased.
The
latest attack by suspected rebels killed three
Turkish soldiers and wounded another three when
rebels set off a mine on a road in Van province on
Monday.
The
Turkish government has repeatedly called on the
United States to intervene against former PKK rebels
entrenched in mountainous bases in northern Iraq,
but Washington, which has included the group on its
terrorist list, has declined to do so, citing more
pressing security concerns in Iraq.
Sunday, July 4, 2004 · Last
updated 1:10 a.m. PT
Moderate earthquake shakes
central Turkey
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISTANBUL, Turkey -- A moderate earthquake shook
central Turkey late Saturday. There were no
immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 4.3 and
was centered in Afyon province, the Istanbul-based
Kandilli Observatory said. Afyon is about 160 miles
southwest of the capital, Ankara.
Quakes are frequent in Turkey, which lies atop
active fault lines. Two devastating earthquakes
killed about 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey in
1999.
On Friday, a magnitude-5.0 quake wrecked 67
houses in a village in eastern Turkey, killing 18
people and injuring 27.
