Ankara : The government has instructed the security forces to maintain public order, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said, as thousands of Kurdish people protested against the advancement of Islamic State (IS) militants into the Kurdish populated Kobane town in Syria.
A total of 19 Turkish nationals have been killed and 145 injured during the protests, Davutoglu told reporters at a press conference Wednesday after a security meeting in Ankara, according to Xinhua.
“This violence has turned to vandalism into organised crime activity,” Davutoglu said, blaming the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) for calling Kurds of Turkey for protests.
On Monday, the HDP called for protests against the IS attack on Kobane and the Turkish government’s stance on the issue.
Kobane, also known as Ayn al-Arab, has been subject to ferocious attacks by IS militants over the past two weeks. The IS fighters have succeeded in capturing hundreds of Kurdish villages around Kobane, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee.
The peace process between the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish state, which aims to end the decades-old Kurdish insurgency, is directly connected to the developments in Kobane, the HDP said.
However, the prime minister ruled out any link between the peace process and the protests for Kobane.
“Peace process and public order are not alternative to each other. Nobody can dare to harm public order hiding behind the peace process. We won’t make concessions to those who want to destroy public order,” Davutoglu said.
Turkey has been hosting nearly 20,000 Syrian Kurds who fled from the IS threat in the town, the prime minister said, noting they would continue to give shelter those people.
“Those who remained silent to barrel bombs, chemical weapons in Syria are now trying to create a perception that Turkey should find a solution in Kobane,” Davutoglu said.
He called on the international community to take action in the UN Security Council in order to end the violence in Syria and bring stability in the country.