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Turkey's PM threatens Kurdish protester will 'pay the price' for removing Turkish flag

A young Kurdish protester who scaled a flagpole at a Turkish military base and removed the national flag will "pay the price," warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

By JC Finley
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pictured on June 18, 2013. (UPI/Palestinian PM Media)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pictured on June 18, 2013. (UPI/Palestinian PM Media) | License Photo

ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 10 (UPI) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened that a Kurdish protester who removed a Turkish flag from a military base will "pay the price."

The masked protester scaled a flagpole at a military base in the Kurd-dominant Diyarbakir province on Sunday and removed the flag.

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Protests have flared over the planned construction of a new army base in the province, a move that some Kurds view as a threat to the peace process.

On Saturday, two Kurds were fatally shot while clashing with government troops.

The prime minister vowed that the young protester who removed the national flag "will pay the price the same way as those who sent him there," and ordered the interior ministry to conduct an investigation.

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