Death toll from Kobani protests in Turkey rises to 25

Kurdish

Wednesday’s clashes between protesters, many of whom showed their support for the outlawed PKK, and security forces erupted in several cities

The death of a 39-year-old man seriously injured in illegal protests in Turkey’s southeastern province of Siirt has brought the death toll from nationwide pro-Kurdish demonstrations to 25.

Necmettin Celik died at the Siirt State Hospital, the second death on Thursday after another man, Kamil Tas, 25, passed away following an earlier attack by protesters on a gas station in the province, health officials said.

Celik’s son, Yusuf Celik, was reported to be among the dead, after he was shot at the same protest a day earlier.

The nationwide protests broke out after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants penetrated the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, known as Ayn al-Arab, on Monday.

The protesters have used the pretext that the Turkish government has allegedly done nothing to halt the relentless advance of the militant group in the Syrian city, which has become a scene of fierce street battles between Kurdish groups and ISIL militants.

The death toll from the protests now stands at 25 across the country: 10 in Diyarbakir, five in Mardin, five in Siirt, along with one each in provinces of Batman, Mus, Van, Adana and Istanbul.

The Istanbul governorate announced that 66 people have been detained in Istanbul alone, adding that 52 people including three police officers had been wounded during the clashes.

Streets barricaded

Wednesday’s clashes between protesters – many of whom showed their support for the outlawed PKK – and security forces erupted in Agri, Van, Bitlis, Mersin, Kars, Bursa, Aydin, Istanbul, Izmir, Hakkari, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Siirt, Batman, Adiyaman and Tunceli provinces.

Police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse pro-Kurdish protesters across the country who had set up barricades, set fire to buses and cars and attacked police with fireworks and stones.

Late on Wednesday, Turkish police clashed with a group of masked people who threw stones and fireworks at them in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district.

They also set fire to a barricade they had made from trucks and automobile tires.

Police forces had to intervene against the group with high-pressure water hoses and tear gas.

There were also clashes in Okmeydani district and the Gazi neighborhood of Istanbul as protesters blocked the main streets with barricades.

Curfew imposed

In Ankara, a group of people staged a sit-in protest and blocked traffic near a main square.

They were dispersed with tear gas after they threw rocks at police.

Three people were wounded during demonstrations in Bingol province and three police officers also were wounded in Yalova province.

A police officer and a soldier were injured during protests in Siirt.

The provincial governorates of Batman, Siirt and Mardin have removed curfews in their five districts, while Diyarbakir imposed an evening curfew on Thursday.

Turkish officials have said the country was against supporting Kurdish PYD fighters in Kobani with military and financial aid, even if they are fighting against ISIL.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey as well as by the U.S. and the European Union.

“No-fly zone”

Intense gunfire and loud explosions could be heard on Wednesday morning from across the Turkish frontier, and huge plumes of grey smoke and dust rose above the town, where the United Nations says only a few hundred inhabitants remain.

“They are now outside the entrances of the city of Kobani. The shelling and bombardment was very effective and as a result of it, IS (Islamic State) have been pushed from many positions,” Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister of the Kurdish-run Kobani district administration, told Reuters by phone.

“This is their biggest retreat since their entry into the city and we can consider this as the beginning of the countdown of their retreat from the area.”

U.S. officials, acknowledging it will be difficult to shield Kobani from the air, have played down its strategic importance.

“People need to understand we need a little strategic patience here. This group is not going to go away tomorrow, and Kobani may fall. We can’t predict whether it will or it won’t,” Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said on CNN.

“There will be other towns that they will threaten, and there will be other towns that they will take. It is going to take a little bit of time.”

Secretary of State John Kerry said: “As horrific as it is to watch in real time what is happening in Kobani …, you have to step back and understand the strategic objective.”

In Turkey, parliament voted last week to authorise cross-border intervention, but Erdogan and his government have so far held back, saying they will join military action only as part of an alliance that also confronts Assad.

Erdogan wants the alliance to enforce a “no-fly zone” to prevent Assad’s air force flying over Syrian territory near the Turkish border and create a safe area for an estimated 1.2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to return.

France said it supported the idea of a safe area, and Britain said it was studying it. But it is clear the proposal has not taken hold in Washington, which has been bombing Syria without Assad raising objections, and does not want to be dragged into a conflict against Damascus.

The conflict has already opened up a fissure in relations between the United States and Turkey, its most powerful ally in the area. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was forced to apologise last week after Erdogan took umbrage at comments Biden made at Harvard University, in which he blamed Turkey’s open borders for allowing ISIL to bring in recruits.

Kerry said Turkey was still deciding what role it would play. Retired U.S. General John Allen, charged with building a coalition against Islamic State after it seized about a third of neighbouring Iraq, is due in Turkey this week.

 

 

Death toll from Kobani protests in Turkey rises to 25