ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A prominent lawyer and human rights defender, who faced a prison term on charges of supporting Kurdish rebels, was killed Saturday in an attack in southeast Turkey, which also killed a police officer, officials said.
Tahir Elci was shot while he and other lawyers were making a press statement, the mayor of Diyarbakir city, Firat Anli, said.
It wasn’t immediately clear who were behind the attack and there were conflicting reports about what led to it. Interior Minister Efkan Ala and other officials said the assault was against police officers and that Elci died in an ensuing clash, while the Diyarbakir Bar Association said the lawyer was the target of the attack.
Two policemen and a journalist were also injured during the clash.
Elci, 49, was the head of the bar association in the mainly Kurdish city and a human rights activists.