Turks Protest at Peace Talks with Kurd Rebels

[Aslan]

Hundreds of Turks staged a demonstration in Istanbul on Sunday in protest at the resumption of peace talks with Kurd rebels, saying they sullied the memory of soldiers killed in the near three-decade conflict.

"We want respect for Turks," "We want respect for the martyrs," the demonstrators chanted.

The protest was held a day after three Kurdish lawmakers visited Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), at his island prison, the second such visit since the peace negotiations resumed late last year.

"Hang this bastard Ocalan," the Istanbul crowd chanted, according to an Agence France Presse correspondent.

Some demonstrators made hand gestures associated with extreme right-wing group Grey Wolves and demanded that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic-leaning party leave office.

Turkey's secret services resumed negotiations with Ocalan with the ultimate aim of ending the PKK's fight for autonomy in the southeast that has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 1984.

The PKK is branded a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

[Anthea]

I feel the same way about the peace talks. I cannot understand why Kurds would even consider holding talks while Turkey has so many Kurds in prison, are still imprisoning even more Kurds and are continuing to bomb Kurds on Kandil.

"We want respect for KURDS," "We want respect for the martyrs,"