Leading Kurdish rights activist killed in southeast Turkey clashes

One of Turkey's leading Kurdish rights activists has been killed during clashes between the police and gunmen in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

Tahir Elci, head of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, was killed while delivering a press conference. Video footage from the scene shows police and gunmen exchanging gunfire:

The state-run news agency Anadolu Agency said Elci was killed by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Activists on Twitter disputed the accusation, pointing out that the Kurdish lawyer had previously been threatened with jail for saying that the PKK was “not a terrorist organization,” and blamed the Turkish police.

The English-language Twitter account of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP) said Elci had been “assasinated” and that they would “pursue” his killers:

Prior to his death, Elci had called for peace in Turkey's southeast.

"We do not want guns, clashes, operations here," he told reporters Friday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan commented at a press conference Friday: "I have just learnt that Bar Association President Mr Tahir Elci died and a policeman was martyred," Erdogan said at a meeting in the northwestern province of Balikesir.

“This incident shows how right Turkey is in its determined fight against terrorism.”

Elci had been a prominent critic of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) government, though he had also criticised the actions of Kurdish militant groups.

In an interview with the Iraqi Kurdish news agency Rudaw in October he said he had received death threats over his positions.

"Some call me directly with their death threats, while others send them over social media," he said

"I am not afraid, even though I am worried because there is a danger."