The 35-year-old Zeki Erinc had been hospitalised Saturday with a bullet wound, doctors said.

An official from the Van governor's office confirmed the death, but was unable to provide details on the nature of his injuries.

Around 50 people, among them policemen, were wounded and some 130 others were detained in Saturday's clashes in Van, according to the police.

The unrest erupted when a gathering meant to mark Newroz -- or the Kurdish New Year -- degenerated into demonstrations in support of the armed separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Ankara.

Riot police fired warning shots in the air and used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd of some 1,500 people, who chanted pro-PKK slogans, set bonfires and barricades and hurled stones at the police.

Two local officials from the Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), which organised the gathering, were among those detained on charges of provoking the unrest.

The police blamed the unrest on the DTP, which defied a decision by authorities in the city to allow Newroz gatherings only on Friday.

Newroz is a traditional platform for Turkey's Kurds to demonstrate support for the PKK and demand broader rights. About 50 people were killed during Newroz clashes in 1992.

The PKK took up arms for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.