Students at Dicle University in the main Kurdish city Diyarbakır/Amed have boycotted lectures today to protest against the 9 October conspiracy which led Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan being forced to leave Syria in 1998.

The boycott at Dicle University has been joined by the majority of the students on the campus where police forces have taken intense security measures since early morning hours. Armored police vehicles are waiting outside the main gate of the campus, with policemen stopping public transport vehicles and performing an identity check on everyone in the campus area. Plainclothes policemen have also gathered already at faculty buildings.

Students at Selçuk University in the province of Konya have also staged a demo to protest the international conspiracy against the leader of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party).

On Tuesday evening, a group of students gathered in the Saraçoğlu neighborhood of Karatay district which was therewith surrounded by riot police denying demonstrations permission for the torch march. Police detained 13 students who were later released upon the protest and press statement by other students.

Speaking on behalf of the students, Hatip Dicle Ceylan pointed out that the Kurdish struggle has defeated the international conspiracy aimed at the elimination of the Kurdistan freedom movement through the capture of their leader. Ceylan remarked that Kurds were currently stronger than ever and that democratisation could be achieved through İmralı.