Ankara - Six teenagers who took part in violent protests last month in the predominantly Kurdish-populated city of Diyarbakir face up to 23 years imprisonment each, the Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday.

Prosecutors are seeking the lengthy jail terms for the six 13-to- 14 year-old boys, claiming that they threw rocks and molotov cocktails at police during demonstrations in October to protest a visit to the city by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The six will appear before a children's court. They are charged with offences such as "belonging to a terrorist organization," "spreading terrorist propaganda" and "damaging public goods."

Recent months have seen a number of Kurdish protests in the south- east. The October protest was sparked by reports that imprisoned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan had been mistreated by guards on the Marmara Sea island prison of Imrali, where Ocalan is the sole convict.

Turkish ministers have denied the reports.

The protests coincide with increased Turkish military offensives against PKK guerrillas, both inside Turkey and in mountainous northern Iraq. The group in Iraq uses the mountains as a base from which to launch attacks inside Turkey.

Ankara blames the separatist group for the deaths of more than 35,000 people since the early 1980s, when the PKK began its fight for independence or autonomy for the south-east of Turkey.

The PKK is considered to be a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union. (dpa)