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At least 12 dead as Kurds protest in Turkey Turkey Kurds: Kobane protests leave 14 dead
(about 4 hours later)
At least 12 people have been killed in clashes between Kurdish protesters and police in Turkey, reports say. At least 14 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. They are unhappy at Turkish inaction in defending the town of Kobane in Syria from an attack by Islamic State (IS) 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.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.
Violent protests also erupted on the streets of Germany. Violent protests also erupted on the streets in Germany.
Curfews have now been imposed in several predominantly Kurdish cities. Curfews have now been imposed in several predominantly cities in south-eastern Turkey with large Kurdish populations.
They were mostly enforced in south-eastern Turkey after the unrest, which was worst in the cities of Mardin, Siirt, Batman and Mus. Eight of the deaths occurred in the main Turkish-Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, where the rioting saw shops and buses set on fire as well as reported clashes between Kurdish activists and supporters of Islamist groups sympathetic to IS.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said that Turkey was doing "whatever can be done" for Kobane. Two people were reported to have died in Mardin, two in Siirt, one in Batman and another in Mus.
He said that it was a "massive lie" that his country had done nothing for the town's inhabitants. Analysis: Mark Lowen, BBC News, in Istanbul
Turkish troops and tanks have lined the border but have not crossed into Syria. The sudden wave of unrest has taken Turkey by surprise, with protests spreading to almost 30 cities.
Fresh US-led air strikes have tried to repel IS, but Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Kobane was "about to fall". Curfews are now in place, in some provinces for the first time in over two decades, and Turkish troops have been deployed.
At least 400 people have died in three weeks of fighting for Kobane, monitors say, and 160,000 Syrians have fled. Some of the violence has been between Kurdish groups and supporters of Islamic State. But the main protests have been directed against the Turkish government, with Kurds calling for military intervention in the besieged town of Kobane.
If IS captures Kobane, its jihadists will control a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border. Turkey's President Erdogan has reiterated that his country will only get more involved if the coalition targets President Bashar al-Assad as well as IS.
Analysis: BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul But Washington says the air strikes are focused for now on IS. So Turkey remains unlikely to send troops into Syria - and the worst violence for years with the Kurds here looks set to build.
The crisis in Kobane is reawakening the ghosts of armed conflict between Turkey and the Kurds. Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the demonstrators of "betraying their own country" and warned them to stop protesting or encounter "unpredictable" consequences.
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. "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.
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. But the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) called for members and supporters to take to the streets to protest against the IS offensive.
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. Although a ceasefire was declared in March 2013, after decades of armed struggle the PKK is seen as a terrorist group in Turkey.
One 25-year-old protester was killed in the eastern province of Mus. Meanwhile, Turkish border police reportedly stopped as many as 300 Kurds who had crossed into Turkey from 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. What the Turkish newspapers are saying:
Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala accused the demonstrators of "betraying their own country" and warned them to stop protesting or encounter "unpredictable" consequences. Most papers are highly critical of the protests. Centre-right Hurriyet denounces them as a "threat to peace", warning they might endanger talks between the government and Kurdish rebels.
"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. It quotes President Erdogan as saying Kurdish politicians are trying to use Kobane to "blackmail" Turkey, a theme taken up by mainstream Milliyet. Centre-right Haberturk warns readers of a "trap", and pro-government Yeni Safak portrays the protesters as "enemies of Turkey".
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. Several papers use fire analogies, with tabloid Posta referring to "days of fire". Opposition Cumhuriyet says "fire surrounds Turkey", and left-wing Taraf worries that "Kobane fire burns us from the inside".
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. Only left-wing Birgun is supportive of the protests, running a provocative headline comparing the governing AKP party with Islamic State - "IS in Kobane, AKP in Turkey".
Meanwhile, groups of Kurds reportedly intending to cross the Turkish border to head for Kobane were stopped by border police. A number of people were hurt when clashes broke out in the German city of Hamburg after hundreds of Kurdish demonstrators in Hamburg held a rally against IS militants.
According to one witness, about 300 Kurds were stopped in the border town of Suruc. Some 400 Kurdish protesters fought with a similar number of radical Muslims, police told German media. Demonstrators, some carrying knives and knuckle-dusters, were eventually separated by police firing water cannon.
The clashes in Germany broke out after hundreds of Kurdish demonstrators in Hamburg held a rally against IS militants. Injuries were also reported after violence involving members of the Yazidi religious group, most of whom are Kurds, and ethnic Chechens in the Lower Saxony town of Celle.
Local newspapers said up to 400 protesters fought with members of a mosque in the city. They were eventually separated by police firing water cannon, it was reported.
It came as Kurdish protesters in Belgium invaded the European Parliament while others held rallies in Holland, Austria and outside the UN building in Geneva.
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.