I/II.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/at-least-14-dead-as-protests-rage-in-turkey-over-kobane-603719
At Least 14 Dead as Protests Rage in Turkey Over Kobane
World | Agence France-Presse | Updated: October 08, 2014 17:13 IST
A person continues to wave a flag while police resorts to tear gas and
water cannons during a pro-Kurdish protest in Turkey against Islamic
jihadists' attack on the border city of Kobane. (AFP)
Diyarbakir, Turkey: At least 14 people were killed as pro-Kurdish
protests raged across Turkey on Wednesday over the government's
failure to act against jihadists attacking the majority-Kurdish Syrian
border city of Kobane.
The disturbances are the worst outbreak of such violence in years and
risk derailing Turkey's peace process with the Kurds.
In a move unprecedented since the deadliest days of the Kurdish
insurgency in the 1990s, the army was deployed to impose a curfew in
several cities in the east.
Related
Fresh Airstrikes on Jihadist Positions in Kobane
Fighting in Syria's Kobane Spreads to South, West
Turkish Army Uses Tear Gas to Move Press, Kurds From Border
The violence was concentrated in the mainly Kurdish southeast but also
flared in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, with empty buses
firebombed and protesters hurling stones at police.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has so far
not intervened militarily against Islamic State (IS) jihadists trying
to take Kobane, to the fury of Turkey's Kurds.
Eight of the deaths came in Turkey's main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir,
where the most intense rioting took place overnight Wednesday, a local
security official told AFP.
Five of these deaths were blamed on clashes between Kurdish activists
and supporters of Islamist groups in the southeast who are sympathetic
to IS.
The clashes caused extensive damage in the city with shop fronts
burned-out and buses set on fire.
Two people were reported killed in Mardin, two in Siirt, and one in
Batman and another in Mus, all cities in the southeast of Turkey with
large populations of Kurds. Further protests were planned for
Wednesday.
The Turkish army has been deployed on the streets of the cities of
Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van to enforce a curfew.
In Diyarbakir, Turkish troops and tanks were patrolling the city of
1.5 million people with the streets deserted after the night of
violence, an AFP correspondent reported.
'Peace under threat'
The world's largest stateless people, Kurds are spread across Turkey,
Iraq, Iran and Syria. Kurdish militants have waged a deadly insurgency
for three decades for self rule in Turkey.
However, a peace process with the Turkish government appeared to be
making progress until the Kobane standoff, and the latest protests
threaten to derail the talks entirely.
"We will never tolerate vandalism and other acts of violence aimed at
disturbing the peace," Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said in
comments broadcast on state television.
"Attempts at violence and harm threatening the peace of our people
will never be taken lightly," he added.
Schools were closed in Diyarbakir and flights were cancelled, reports
said. The protests first broke out on Monday night but Tuesday's
clashes were more severe.
Police also used tear gas and water cannon to disperse angry
pro-Kurdish protests in Istanbul and Ankara.
In Istanbul, 98 demonstrators were arrested and dozens injured,
Turkish television reported. Eight police were also injured.
The violence even spread outside Turkey's borders, with street clashes
between hundreds of Kurdish and Islamist supporters in Germany's
northern port city of Hamburg leaving 23 people wounded overnight.
In one act that enraged secular Turks, Kurdish demonstrators in Mardin
set fire to a statue of the secular founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk.
Selahattin Demirtas, the co-leader of the People's Democratic Party
(HDP) which first called for the protests, condemned the burning of
Turkish flags and attack on the Ataturk statue.
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which battled Turkish
forces since 1984 in an insurgency that has claimed 40,000 lives, has
largely observed a ceasefire since March last year.
But jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said in a message relayed by his
brother from his prison on the island of Imrali on the Sea of Marmara
that the government had until mid-October to show it was serious about
the peace process.
"Peace under threat," headlined the Hurriyet daily above an
apocalyptic picture of vehicles on fire in the protests.
Kurds, who make up from 15 to 20 percent of Turkey's population and
are its largest minority, have been particularly irked by the
reluctance of the authorities to allow Turkish Kurds to cross the
border to fight Islamic State jihadists.
The government has parliamentary authorisation to use the military in
Syria but says it will only send in troops if there is a coordinated
international effort to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
Story First Published: October 08, 2014 16:52 IST
II.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/thousands-of-kurds-protest-in-turkey-over-islamic-state-attack-on-kobane-20141008-10rmk2.html
Thousands of Kurds protest in Turkey over Islamic State attack on Kobane
Date
October 8, 2014 - 11:13AM
Humeyra Pamuk
Kobane 'about to fall' to Islamic State
Syrian-Turkish border town Kobane is "about to fall" warns Turkey's
president, after Islamic State fighters press home a three-week
assault.
Istanbul: Four people died and many others have been wounded in
south-east Turkey, local media reported, after violent clashes erupted
between police and Kurds demonstrating in support of the Syrian
Kurdish border town of Kobane.
Two people died in the south-eastern province of Siirt while one was
killed in neighbouring Batman. Earlier, a 25-year-old man died in the
eastern city of Mus, as thousands of Kurdish protesters demanded the
government do more to protect Kobane, which has been besieged by
Islamic State militants.
Gas attack: A protester at the rally in Ankara, after police used tear
gas. Photo: AFP
Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters, who burnt cars and tyres
as they took to the streets, mainly in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish
eastern and south-eastern provinces, although clashes erupted in the
nation's biggest city, Istanbul, and the capital Ankara as well.
Curfews were imposed in districts of the border province Mardin and
the eastern province of Van after intense protests.
Islamic State fighters have advanced into the south-west of Kobane,
increasing pressure on Ankara to intervene in the conflict. The
three-week-long assault has cost some 400 lives, according to the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
Under fire: Police used tear gas and water cannon on protesters in
Istanbul. Photo: AFP
NATO-member Turkey has taken in more than 180,000 refugees who fled
Kobane but has refrained from joining a US-led coalition against Sunni
militants, saying the campaign should be broadened to target the
removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Kurdish politicians, part of Turkey's fragile peace process with the
jailed leader of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to end a three-decade
insurgency, have criticised Turkey for inaction.
Ankara rejected the criticism. "It is a massive lie that Turkey is
doing nothing on Kobane," Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said on
Twitter. "Turkey is doing whatever can be done in humanitarian
aspects."
Standing ground: Clashes erupted in Ankara, where police used tear gas
and water cannon. Photo: AFP
He accused Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) of
adopting an "irresponsible way of conducting politics" and called the
protests "a big injustice to Turkey's well-meant efforts".
The Kurdish party had issued a statement saying: "The situation in
Kobane is extremely critical. We call on our people to go out into the
streets, or support those that have gone onto the streets, to protest
the ISIL attacks and the ... stance of the AKP government against
Kobane."
The fight in Kobane against Islamist militants has become a rallying
point for Turkey's Kurdish community. They see Ankara as partly
responsible for Islamic State gaining power.
The increased possibility of Kobane's fall has also triggered protests
in European cities such as Brussels and Geneva, with hundreds holding
PKK flags pouring onto the streets.
Reuters
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