The unrest came amid growing unease in the Kurdish community over increased military operations against Kurdish rebels waging a bloody drive for self-rule and alleged mistreatment of rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in a Turkish prison.

Erdogan arrived in the eastern city of Van for meetings with local officials and supporters, to be greeted by violent clashes between masked Kurdish demonstrators and police.

Fighting erupted when the protestors -- mostly supporters of the country's main Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) -- pelted police with stones and Molotov cocktails, refusing orders to disperse.

Police fired warning shots in the air and used tear gas against the crowd fleeing into side streets.

The protestors also set seven vehicles on fire during the scuffles which took place just 150 metres (164 yards) from where Erdogan was speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate a government housing project.

A police officer and a civilian were injured in the clashes while several demonstrators were detained.

Addressing a large crowd of supporters waving Turkish flags, Erdogan brushed aside the protests, urging unity and pledging steps to increase the prosperity of the Kurdish community.

"I visit and will visit every centimetre of this country.... We bring love, peace, fraternity and welfare to all the places that we visit," Erdogan said in televised remarks.

He blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- blacklisted by Ankara and much of the international community as a terrorist organisation -- for the unrest, charging that the rebels saw government investment in the impoverished east and southeast as a threat to the support they draw from the region.

"As long as we preserve our unity, we will continue to provide the region with better services. Despite terrorism, we will make sure that our cities prosper and the people become happy," he said.

In a separate development, a suspected bomb blast rocked the headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party in the southeastern city of Hakkari, close to the border with Iraq and Iran, on the eve of a visit there by Erdogan.

Two people were injured in the blast, which caused wide damage amd blew out the windows of nearby buildings.

A party official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they suspected the blast was caused by a persussion bomb. There was no statement from the police.

There was also a protest in Diyarbakir, also in the southeast, where some 4,000 Kurds launched a two-day sit-in to denounce government policies against Kurds and allegations of mistreatment of PKK leader Ocalan.

Police beefed up security measures around the square where the protest was held, but the situation was calm, an AFP correspondent said.

The PKK picked up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish east and southeast, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 44,000 lives.

The Turkish military has recently stepped up operations against the rebels both inside Turkey and in neighbouring northern Iraq where Ankara charges some 2,000 rebels take refuge.

Ocalan, 60, was arrested in Kenya in 1999 and subsequently condemned to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2002 after Turkey abolished capital punishment.

Considered a hero by many Kurds, he is serving his sentence in solitary confinement on a prison island in northwest Turkey.

There were violent Kurdish protests across the country last month after Ocalan's lawyers claimed he had been assaulted by a guard and threatened with death in his cell. The Turkish government has denied the allegations.