Amsterdam: Fears of Turkish-Kurdish riots

Amsterdam: Fears of Turkish-Kurdish riots


(arson attempt at mosque in Arnhem)


Via Telegraaf 1,2,3,4 (Dutch):

An emergency decree has been announced for the Museum Square in Amsterdam starting 2pm today and until midnight. This allows for a ban on assembly in the square. Mayor Eberhard van der Laan fears a confrontation between Turks and Kurds.

Turkish and Kurdish organizations, as well as the municipality of Amsterdam and the police, published a press released asking people not to come to demonstrate at the Museum Square, for fear that it could result in riots. The organizations signed on the press release include the Federation of Kurds in the Netherlands, The Turkish union HTIB, and the Federation of Dutch Turkish Youth organizations.

Messages circulating on the internet call Turks to come to Amsterdam to demonstrate against the Kurdish PKK. A similar protest last Sunday got out of hand, and a group of Turks - ultra-nationalists, according to insiders - attacked a nearby Kurdish center.

"We don't want to import the Turkish-Kurdish conflict to the Netherlands and Amsterdam," according to the press release. "We ask everybody: demonstrating is a constitutional right, but don't go today to the Museum Square."

In the eastern city of Arnhem there have been several incidents, though both sides say that the relations between Kurds and Turks in Arnhem are good. These include an arson attempt and graffiti against a Turkish mosque, smashed windows at Turkish shops, and death threats against a Kurdish center.