Tuesday, October 7, 2014

At least 12 dead as Kurds protest in Turkey

Clashes as Turkish Kurds protest over Kobane policy

BBC News - ‎19 minutes ago‎
At least 12 people have been killed in clashes between Kurdish protesters and police in Turkey, reports say. Riot police used tear gas and water cannon in a number of towns and cities as the disturbances spread across the country.
Western fear of angering Turkey leaves besieged Kurdish town at mercy of ...
At least 12 dead in Turkey as pro-Kurdish protests turn violent

At least 12 dead as Kurds protest in Turkey

Kurdish protesters and riot police clashed in towns and cities across Turkey
At least 12 people have been killed in clashes between Kurdish protesters and police in Turkey, reports say.
They are unhappy at perceived Turkish inaction in defending the town of Kobane in Syria from an attack by Islamic State militants.
Riot police used tear gas and water cannon in a number of towns and cities as the disturbances spread across the country, including Ankara and Istanbul.
Curfews were imposed in several predominantly Kurdish cities.
They were mostly enforced in south-eastern Turkey after the unrest, which was worst in the cities of Mardin, Siirt, Batman and Mus.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said that Turkey was doing "whatever can be done" for Kobane.
He said that it was a "massive lie" that his country had done nothing for the town's inhabitants.
Turkish troops and tanks have lined the border but have not crossed into Syria.
About 100 Kurdish protesters broke into the European Parliament
Fresh US-led air strikes have tried to repel IS, but Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Kobane was "about to fall".
At least 400 people have died in three weeks of fighting for Kobane, monitors say, and 160,000 Syrians have fled.
If IS captures Kobane, its jihadists will control a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.
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Analysis: BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul
The crisis in Kobane is reawakening the ghosts of the civil war between Turkey and the Kurds.
While Islamic State tightens its grip on Kobane, Turkey is still holding fire on deploying troops. It remains reluctant to help the Kurdish militia in Syria, which has close links with Kurdish fighters here.
And the Turkish government has again called for the US-led coalition to target the Assad regime as well as IS - and for a no-fly zone to ease the refugee influx into Turkey. But neither goal seems within reach, the US state department reiterating that the air strikes remained focused on IS alone. The Kurds say Turkey's failure to act will lead to the fall of Kobane.
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Police used tear gas and water cannon as unrest spread to at least six cities. At least five people were reportedly killed in the town of Diyarbakir, where the deadliest violence took place.
One 25-year-old protester was killed in the eastern province of Mus.
Kurds across Europe protest to demand action over IS attacks in Kobane
The authorities in the southern province of Mardin declared a curfew in six districts and a group of Turkish nationalists surrounded a building in Istanbul which Kurds had occupied.
Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the demonstrators of "betraying their own country" and warned them to stop protesting or encounter "unpredictable" consequences.
"Violence will be met with violence... This irrational attitude should immediately be abandoned and [the protesters] should withdraw from the streets," he told reporters in Ankara.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the biggest Kurdish party in Turkey, called for members and supporters to take to the streets to protest against the IS offensive.
The PKK is seen as a terrorist group in Turkey, where decades of armed struggle against the Turkish government for self-determination has left both sides deeply mistrustful of each other.
The facade of a public Turkish bank burned by Kurdish protestors in Diyarbakir (7 October 2014)This bank was damaged by Kurdish protesters in Diyarbakir
Map of Kobane showing IS advances
Civilians continue to flee Kobane across the Turkish border, 7 OctCivilians continue to flee Kobane across the Turkish border
Smoke rises in Kobane, 7 OctSmoke rises in Kobane, but the town appeared quieter on Tuesday
Dozens of demonstrators smashed a glass door and entered the European Parliament, where President Martin Schulz promised to discuss the situation with EU leaders.
Hundreds more protesters demonstrated in Berlin and other German cities.
Meanwhile, groups of Kurds reportedly intending to cross the Turkish border to head for Kobane were stopped by border police.
According to one witness, about 300 Kurds were stopped in the border town of Suruc.
Protesters attacked police in the Kurdish populated Turkish town of Cizre on the Syrian border
Last week, Turkey pledged to prevent Kobane from falling to IS and its parliament authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria.
But Kurds have accused Turkey of simply standing by as IS advanced on the Syrian Kurds defending Kobane.
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