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Top Kurdish activist killed in Turkey gunfight

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A prominent lawyer and human rights defender, who faced a criminal charge for supporting Kurdish rebels, was killed Saturday in an attack in southeast Turkey in which a police officer also died, officials said.

Tahir Elci was shot while he and other lawyers were making a press statement. Two policemen and a journalist were also injured.

It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the attack and there were conflicting reports about what led to it.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala and other officials said the assault was against police officers, and that Elci died in an ensuing clash. However, the Diyarbakir Bar Association said the lawyer, who was Kurdish, was the target of the attack.

Elci, 49, was the head of the bar association in the mainly Kurdish city and a human rights activist.

He was briefly detained and questioned last month for saying during a live news program that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is not a terrorist organization. Soon after, he was charged with making terrorist propaganda and was facing more than seven years in prison.

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Tahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, speaks to the media shortly before being killed …

Turkey and its allies consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization, and the government has stepped up attacks against it in recent months. The PKK has been fighting for autonomy in southeastern Turkey since 1984.

Ala said the attack began with two people firing at police from an area some 100 meters (109 yards) away from where Elci was speaking. A policeman died in that attack. Ala said Elci died soon after in a clash between the police and assailants.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke of two possible scenarios.

"One possibility is that after this terror attack, the assailants assassinated Mr. Elci," Davutoglu said. "A second possibility is that ... Elci got caught in the crossfire."

Davutoglu vowed to find the culprits through a "transparent" investigation and promised no cover-up.

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FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2015 file photo, Tahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar Association, , walks …

A government official said four inspectors have been assigned to investigate the case, adding that the government was "determined to shed light" on the attack.

He said authorities believe that Elci was caught in the crossfire, but were not ruling out "the possibility that a third party directly targeted him." The official cannot be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Elci had said through his Twitter account that he had received death threats because of his televised comments in which he defended the rebels.

Authorities declared a curfew in the Sur neighborhood where the attack occurred — a scene of frequent clashes between security forces and Kurdish youths.

Protests later broke out in Diyarbakir and elsewhere denouncing the killing.

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An armed man watches just moments after the shooting death of Tahir Elci, the head of Diyarbakir Bar …

In Diyarbakir, police used pressurized water against a group of protesters who hurled rocks and fire crackers. Police also dispersed hundreds of people who had gathered in central Istanbul chanting: "We are all Tahir, we are all Elci."

At the time of the attack, Elci and other lawyers were making a statement about the destruction caused to a historic mosque by the clashes in Sur. Elci had strongly advocated an end to the renewed violence between the PKK and security forces.

The U.S. Embassy expressed shock over Elci's death, calling him a "courageous defender of human rights."

"Our condolences go to his family, that of the policeman killed and to all of Turkey. A terrible loss," the embassy said on Twitter.

Elci was the lawyer for Mohammed Rasool, a journalist who has worked for The Associated Press and other media organizations. Rasool was arrested in August in Diyarbakir while reporting for Vice News.

Putin orders sanctions against Turkey after downing of jet

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey, following the downing this week by Turkey of a Russian warplane.

The decree published on the Kremlin's website Saturday came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had voiced regret over the incident, saying his country was "truly saddened" by the event and wished it hadn't occurred.

It includes a ban on some goods and forbids extensions of labor contracts for Turks working in Russia as of Jan. 1. It doesn't specify what goods are to be banned or give other details, but it also calls for ending chartered flights from Russia to Turkey and for Russian tourism companies to stop selling vacation packages that would include a stay in Turkey.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the week had ordered his cabinet to develop a list of goods to be sanctioned.

Putin's decree also calls for ending visa-free travel between Russia and Turkey and orders the tightening of control over Turkish air carriers in Russia "for security reasons." The decree was issued "to protect Russian citizens from crimes," a Kremlin statement said.

Erdogan's expression of regret Saturday was the first since Tuesday's incident in which Turkish F-16 jets shot down the Russian jet on grounds that it had violated Turkey's airspace despite repeated warnings to change course. It was the first time in half a century that a NATO member shot down a Russian plane and drew a harsh response from Moscow.

"We are truly saddened by this incident," Erdogan said. "We wish it hadn't happened as such, but unfortunately such a thing has happened. I hope that something like this doesn't occur again."

Addressing supporters in the western city of Balikesir, Erdogan said neither country should allow the incident to escalate and take a destructive form that would lead to "saddening consequences."

He renewed a call for a meeting with Putin on the sidelines of a climate conference in Paris next week, saying it would be an opportunity to overcome tensions.

Erdogan's friendly overture however, came after he again vigorously defended Turkey's action and criticized Russia for its operations in Syria.

"If we allow our sovereign rights to be violated ... then the territory would no longer be our territory," Erdogan said.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also said he hoped a meeting between Erdogan and Putin would take place in Paris.

"In such situations it is important to keep the channels of communication open," he said.

Putin has denounced the Turkish action as a "treacherous stab in the back," and has insisted that the plane was downed over Syrian territory in violation of international law. He has also refused to take telephone calls from Erdogan. Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Friday that the Kremlin had received Erdogan's request for a meeting, but wouldn't say whether such a meeting is possible.

After the incident, Russia deployed long-range S-400 air defense missile systems to a Russian air base in Syria just 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the border with Turkey to help protect Russian warplanes, and the Russian military warned it would shoot down any aerial target that would pose a potential threat to its planes.

On Saturday Turkey issued a travel warning urging its nationals to delay non-urgent and unnecessary travel to Russia, saying Turkish travelers were facing "problems" in the country. It said Turks should delay travel plans until "the situation becomes clear."

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Heintz reported from Moscow.