Why Not Diyarbakır and Batman?

DTP members blamed state authorities for Newroz violence, arguing that in the cities of Diyarbakır and Batman, where demonstrations were allowed, but carefully monitored, no violence broke out. It was only those cities in which Newroz celebrations had been prohibited where violence occurred. DTP does not stand on solid enough ground to make this argument successfully, but it indeed needs to be taken seriously and reflects the increased reluctance on AKP's part to grant Kurds cultural rights and eschew pro-PKK demonstrators rather than engaging them (and others) violently.