Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz was punched and his nose broken on Monday in central Kayseri, according to a report by local Dogan News Agency. Physical education teacher Sahin Simsek punched the minister during a public funeral ceremony for a fallen Gendarmerie captain. The teacher and four others were detained by the police. The minister was taken to the hospital and only suffered a minor scratch. Captain Levent Cetinkaya had been wounded during a Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) attack in southeastern Sirnak last week and died during treatment. Tempers flared amongst the 15 thousand attendees at the ceremony, many enraged over the government's 'democratic initiative,' a program initiated by the ruling Justice and Development Party last year to foster dialogue with the Kurdish minority and address their concerns. Many of the attendees waved Turkish flags while cursing the PKK and Ahmet Turk, the former leader of the Democratic Society Party, a Kurdish party banned in December. Ahmet Turk had been punched in protest last week in Samsun. 