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12/22/2024 02:33:24 pm

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Erdogan Says Kurdish Protests Will Not Prevent Peace Talks

Kobani Siege

(Photo : Reuters/Umit Bektas) Turkish military tanks take up position on the Turkish-Syrian border on October 6, 2014.

The deadly street protests over Turkey's refusal to intervene militarily in the Islamic State-besieged town of Kobani will not derail the peace talks between Ankara and the Kurdish rebels, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Thursday.

Ankara has rejected any proposal of military action against the Islamic State that has made its bloody advance in Kobani just across Turkey's border with Syria.

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Turkey's top officials have insisted that unless the U.S.-led coalition expands airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey will not cross the Syrian border to reinforce Kurdish militiamen who defend the Syrian town.

This has enraged Turkey's Kurdish population, stirring violent clashes against riot police across several districts of Istabul, Ankara and the southern city of Mersin in the last four days.

AFP reported that as of Thursday the unrest has left at least 27 people dead.

Clashes have also been reported between Islamic State supporters and Kurdish sympathizers.

At Istanbul University, police detained 28 students on Thursday, while 50 women who mounted a protest at Istanbul's Ataturk airport were also arrested.

Erdogan said the violence will not intimidate the government and vowed to "fight those who engage in such acts," according to the initial statements released by his office.

Until the Islamic State laid siege of Kobani three weeks ago, restraint had been largely observed Kurdish forces and the Turkish government.

However, Turkey's open refusal to take on the Islamic State fighters just across its border, particularly after it blocked Kurdish fighters from crossing the border to join the fighting in Kobani, has threatened to end the fragile peace process with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)

PKK has been fighting for self-rule from Turkey in the last three decades. The group has warned of dissolving peace talks with Ankara if Kobani falls to Islamic State.

On Thursday, the Islamic State has seized up to a third of the city of Kobani as Turkish forces look on from their side of the border, Reuters reported. 

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