MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-PROTESTS Turkish police fire water cannon, tear gas at Ankara demonstrators

Record ID: 145977

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-PROTESTS Turkish police fire water cannon, tear gas at Ankara demonstrators
  • Date: 25th July 2015
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (JULY 25, 2015) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS GATHERED TO DEMONSTRATE AGAINST MILITARY STRIKES IN SYRIA AND NORTHERN IRAQ POLICEMEN STANDING IN FRONT OF WATER CANNON, READYING TO PUT ON THEIR HELMETS POLICEMEN PUTTING ON THEIR HELMETS PROTESTERS DEMONSTRATING SKIRMISHES BETWEEN POLICEMEN AND PROTESTERS AS POLICEMEN FIRE PEPPER GAS AND TEAR GAS TO DISPERSE THE CROWD SMOKE RISING FROM THE GROUND WATER CANNON SPRAYING WATER ANOTHER WATER CANNON DRIVING PAST AS POLICEMEN CHASE PROTESTERS WATER CANNONS SPRAYING WATER POLICEMEN WALKING MORE OF WATER CANNON SPRAYING STREET
  • Embargoed: 9th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA976NNYKKDFD75J2STWWZCR2RW
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Turkish police fired water cannon and tear gas on Saturday (July 25) to disperse about 1,000 demonstrators who had gathered in the capital Ankara, to protest against a military strike in northern Iraq and a suicide bomb attack by Islamic State militants that killed 32 people in border town of Suruc.
    Police with riot shields pushed back a large group of protesters and fired pepper gas and tear gas. Water cannon trucks also sprayed jets of water towards the protesters.
    Turkish fighter jets and ground forces hit Islamic State militants in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq overnight on Saturday (July 24), in a campaign Ankara said would help create a "safe zone" across swathes of northern Syria.
    Many of those killed in the Suruc attack were Kurds and it kicked off waves of violence in the largely Kurdish southeast by militants who say Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party have covertly supported Islamic State against Syrian Kurds. Ankara denies the accusation.
    The attacks on the outlawed PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency against Turkey, could kill off stumbling peace talks between the group and Ankara, which were started in 2012 but have been stalled lately.
    "The truce has no meaning anymore after these intense air strikes by the occupant Turkish army," the PKK said in a statement on its website. It has also called on Kurds to take to the streets for mass demonstrations across the country to denounce the air strikes.
    Authorities had earlier said they would not allow a planned peace march to be held in Istanbul on Sunday (July 25), citing concerns about security and traffic.
    Erdogan took a big political risk in starting peace talks in 2012 with the Kurds, who represent nearly 20 percent of Turkey's population. They now accuse him of backtracking on promises.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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