Supporters celebrate birthday of jailed Kurdish leader in Turkey

Istanbul - Thousands of supporters of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan gathered in his hometown Monday morning to celebrate his birthday, Turkish media outlets reported.

Some 8,000 of his followers descended on the village Omerli, which lies in the Sanliurfa province in south eastern Turkey.

For the first time, security forces allowed 500 people to enter the village. The group included politicians from the Peace and Democracy Party, who placed a pair of red carnations at the site where two Ocalan supporters were shot last year during clashes with police.

Others had their pictures taken in the house and room where Ocalan, the leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, was born. They grabbed handfuls of earth out of the garden as souvenirs.

Relatives of Ocalan reportedly welcomed the supporters, handing out sweets and homemade bread, and letting their hands be kissed.

"Good that you were born, Ocalan," the crowd shouted.

One of his sisters, speaking in Kurdish outside the house, called for peace and an end to bloodshed.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/317192,supporters-celebrate-birthday-of-jailed-kurdish-leader-in-turkey.html.