While on February 15, the anniversary on which PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan had been arrested due to an international conspiracy, actions and demonstrations took place in whole Turkey and Kurdistan as well as in Strasbourg, France, a 16-year old boy called Yahya Menekse was killed in Cizre taken across by a tank.
The murder of Yahya Menekse was answered with protest actions. Revolutionary and democratic organisations gathering in Izmir on February 17 condemned the killing with the slogan "Stop the state terror". The Socialist Platform of the Oppressed ( ESP ), Democratic Society Party ( DTP ), Socialist Democratic Party ( SDP ), Labour Party ( EMEP ), Human Rights Association ( IHD ), Mazlum-Der, Tayd-Der, Göc-Der and the Association of the `78s of Ege gathered at Izmir borough Konak and marched until Republic Square. Despite the police interfering, the mass reached the square and emphasized in a statement that Yahya Menekse had been killed by a tank and not by a stone thrown by the police at his head. The fact that similar massacres had been done before by the police was also pointed out in the statement and the state terror was exposed. The organisations described their determination to fight with the words "We as the organisations supporting the democratic demands of the Kurdish people once more announce that we will carry the flag of brotherhood until the end and fight shoulder to shoulder against the attack and violence policy raised."