Thirteen Kurdish demonstrators and a Turkish policeman were injured and 20 Kurds were detained when police broke up celebrations of the ancient spring festival Newroz, security sources said today.
Turkish police fired water cannons, tear gas and warning shots in the air to disperse around 3,000 Kurds in the southeastern city of Van celebrating Newroz by shouting slogans supporting the banned separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Police said ten demonstrators were injured and 20 detained after what they said were unauthorised celebrations.
Clashes also erupted between approximately 2,000 celebrators and police in Hakkari near the city government building.
In Siirt three demonstrators and one police officer were injured after police used tear gas to try to break up more celebrations they said had gone ahead without permission.
Newroz, which is Nevruz in Turkish, is celebrated in Iran, northern Iraq and central Asia as the beginning of spring, but in Turkey has been associated with Turkey's large Kurdish population in the southeastern part of the country.
It is often a flashpoint for clashes between Turkish security forces and supporters of the PKK, which took up arms in 1984 to carve out a Kurdish ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey.
Some 40,000 people have died in violence between the PKK and Turkey's military since then.