Rob, I understand very well what you mean when you say being Australian is getting difficult. Take a look at what is below to see how difficult it already is to be Turkish. Sabri Oncu +++++++ Turkey clamps down on mass Kurdish rally By Ufuk Utkan ANKARA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Prison cells in the Turkish capital Ankara overflowed on Saturday as police detained thousands of Kurds in a bid to stop a Kurdish rally planned for the city. In Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, police fired teargas grenades and chased away groups of some 2,000 Kurds who had gathered to demonstrate in a suburb. Ankara officials sent detained protesters by bus to police stations in nearby regions after cells in the city were filled. At least 700 were arrested. Thousands of Ankara police, reinforced by colleagues from nearby towns and backed by armoured cars and riot squads, had patrolled city streets, checking identity papers and detaining hundreds of people, most of whom surrendered to police without a struggle. The People's Democracy Party (HADEP), which campaigns for Kurdish rights, eventually cancelled plans to hold a rally in the city, where officials had banned any mass gathering. A HADEP spokeswoman said one party supporter died late on Friday, falling to his death down a ventilation shaft in a party building in Istanbul where he had taken refuge from police. She said the accident happened after police broke up a 200-strong group of HADEP supporters about to board buses for Ankara. "They have arrested drivers, confiscated documents and driving licences. They have told bus firms we had contracted that they were going nowhere," the spokeswoman said. "This is directly concerned with our right to freedom of movement." TEARGAS GRENADES In Istanbul, police chased and fired teargas at a group of demonstrators as they were dispersing after a rally of some 2,000 in the Topkapi district of the city. HADEP officials said around 200 people had been detained. In the southeastern city of Batman around 20 people were injured as police broke up a gathering of HADEP supporters, the Anatolian news agency said. World Peace Day on September 1 has become a traditional protest day for Kurdish activists who want cultural rights, or autonomy, for Turkey's 12 million Kurds. Their immediate demands include free use of Kurdish in education and broadcasting, aims shared by the European Union which Turkey wants to join. The day is also the second anniversary of a move by Kurdish rebels to abandon their armed struggle with security forces. HADEP had aimed to bring 100,000 people together for the rally, but that total looks unlikely now. HADEP officials said around 1,000 had been arrested in Istanbul alone. Police fired in the air on Friday afternoon in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir to disperse up to 3,000 people chanting slogans in support of jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan issued orders from a Turkish jail in 1999, telling his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to withdraw from Turkey and give up its armed struggle with security forces by September 1. Since then, fighting between Turkish forces and the PKK has dwindled, although Turkey says the unilateral PKK pullout is a ploy and refused to recognise any ceasefire. The PKK says it has abandoned its armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland and now campaigns peacefully for Kurdish cultural rights within Turkey.
