alwaght-Thousands of pro-Kurdish demonstrators incensed by Turkey's inaction in the fight against ISIS terrorist group on the Syrian border clashed with police across the country on Tuesday night, leaving at least a dozen dead and many wounded.
According to Russia Today Up to 14 people have been killed and scores others wounded as pro-Kurdish demonstrators clashed with police in eastern provinces as well as in Istanbul and Ankara, as people demand action against the ISIS terrorist group.
Clashes with police in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city in the southeast, resulted in eight deaths, Hurriyet Daily Newsreports. Another protester died in clashes in Varto, in the province of Mus, where at least half a dozen people were wounded. Two people died in south-eastern Siirt province, while another died in Batman.
Thousands of people had joined the demonstrations called by the main pro-Kurdish party, the People's Democratic Party (HDP), not only against Ankara's failure to fight ISIS terrorist group fighting for the Syrian border town of Kobani, but also against Ankara's inhibition from helping Kobani's people.
Ahmet Davutoglu, the prime minister, has vowed that Turkey will do whatever necessary to prevent the fall of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, the Telegraph reported, but Kurds bitterly accuse Ankara of merely looking on as the town risks being overrun by terrorists despite dozens of Turkish tanks being deployed on the border.
Efkan Ala, the interior minister, accused the pro-Kurdish protesters of "betraying their own country" and warned them to disperse or face "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.
Enraged youths in the southeastern town had overnight torched a police vehicle, scores of other vehicles and shops and attacked government offices.
According to Russia Today In Istanbul's Gazi neighbourhood, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse a protest by several hundred Kurds, an AFP correspondent reported. Elsewhere in Istanbul, one person was seriously injured after being shot in the head from close range. Violence also erupted in the Turkish capital Ankara, with several police injured in clashes.
Demonstrators shouted "ISIS murderers!" and accused Turkey's authorities of collaborating with the Islamic State.
The violence led to the introduction of curfews in six provinces. "Violence is not the solution. Violence triggers reprisals. This irrational attitude should come to an end immediately," Interior Minister Efkan Ala said, calling for an end to the protests.
Kurds have been particularly irked by the reluctance of Turkish authorities, who are concerned by Kurdish separatism, to allow Kurds over the border to fight ISIS terrorist group.
They have warned that the fall of Kobani could mean an end to the peace talks between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which waged a deadly insurgency in Turkey for the last three decades but has largely observed a ceasefire since last year.
Kurdistan Communities Union - considered the urban wing of the mountain-based PKK - called on millions to take to the street to protest against what it termed "ISIS brutality".
