Turkey’s main Kurdish party has urged all Kurds to hold protest rallies across the country against the IS militants’ attacks on the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani and Ankara's inaction in this regard.
In a statement released on Monday, the People's Democratic Party (HDP) described the situation in the strategic city along the border with Turkey as “very critical.”
“We are calling on our people to take to streets and protest ISIS (ISIL) attacks and the AKP's (ruling Justice and Development Party's) stance toward Kobani,” the party said.
The statement comes as the IS militants have entered Kobani, with reports saying that the terrorists have taken three districts of the flashpoint city.
The IS terrorist group has been trying to reach and capture Kobani over the past few weeks.
Syrian Kurdish fighters have called on all Kurds across the region to take up arms against the IS militants.
This is while the Turkish government does not allow Kurdish fighters to cross the border into Syria and join the fight against the IS.
Many Turkish Kurds are furious at the policies of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's government. They are also angry that Turkey has so far failed to launch a military intervention against the IS extremists despite having parliamentary authorization.
According to witnesses, after the HDP's statement hundreds of Kurds assembled in the border town of Suruc to walk to Kobani late Monday night.
Turkish media also reported that clashes erupted between police and pro-Kurdish protesters in the city of Istanbul, with the demonstrators blocking a road in the Beyoglu district and throwing fireworks and Molotov cocktails at security forces.
In the city's volatile Gazi neighborhood, demonstrators reportedly set fire to a bus.
The weeks-long intense battle for Kobani has forced nearly 200,000 people to take refuge in Turkey.
