SAMSUN, Turkey, April 12 (UPI) -- A pro-Kurdish lawmaker was assaulted Monday in northern Turkey during a trial for shop owners who opened fire on protesters in December, killing two.
Two people were arrested by Turkish officials following an attack on Ahmet Turk in the northern province of Samsun, Turkey's daily newspaper Hurriyet reports.
Turk served as a leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party before an Ankara court in December moved to disband the party because of an alleged link to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party. Southern Turkey broke out in riots following the ban.
Turk, who is banned from politics for five years, was attending the trial of two shop owners who scuffled with protesters during the riots because they refused to close their shops in solidarity with the Kurdish population. Two demonstrators were killed in the melee.
The assailants Monday broke through a security detail for Turk, breaking his nose in the attack. Pro-Kurdish leaders said the police were behind the incident, though officials in the interior ministry denied the allegation.
The governor of Samsun province said the attack was under investigation.
