MIDEAST-CRISIS/FRANCE-KURDISH DEMO French Kurds protest in Paris against Turkey's attack on Kurdish militants
Record ID:
146332
MIDEAST-CRISIS/FRANCE-KURDISH DEMO French Kurds protest in Paris against Turkey's attack on Kurdish militants
- Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/FRANCE-KURDISH DEMO French Kurds protest in Paris against Turkey's attack on Kurdish militants
- Date: 25th July 2015
- Summary: VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS CHANTING AND WALKING
- Embargoed: 9th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAHLURDBQOF69QX59BE47MX28T
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of Kurds gathered in Paris on Saturday (July 25) to denounce Turkey's operations targeting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, and the suspected Islamic State (IS) bombing of Suruc.
Turkish fighter jets and ground forces hit IS militants in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq in a campaign Ankara said would help create a "safe zone" across swathes of northern Syria.
Turkey has dramatically cranked up its role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State since a suspected IS suicide bomber killed 32 people earlier this week in Suruc, a town close to the Syrian border, while pledging to also target Kurdish militants.
Members of France's large Kurdish community met in central Paris carrying placards denouncing President Tayyip Erdogan as a "murderer".
Saleh Mustapha, a Kurd living in France, said Turkey was double-dealing with the Kurds.
"I condemn the attacks against Kurds of Turkey, and at the same time Turkey is double-dealing. It is trying to convince the international community that it is fighting ISIS but in reality it is targeting the Kurds in northern Iraq," Mustapha said.
Another demonstrator of Kurdish origin, Leon Deart, said that Turkey had not changed and was still targeting the Kurdish community.
"I want the world to know, I think Turkey won't change from one day to the next. There are still a base for ISIS. We have seen people arrested but among the 600 people arrested, there were probably a hundred from ISIS and the rest were Kurds. In fact, we want the world to witness that," Deart said.
Turkey's attacks against the PKK have raised concern about the future of the shaky Kurdish peace process.
Critics including opposition politicians accuse Erdogan of trying to use the campaign against IS as an excuse to crack down on Kurds.
Turkey was long a reluctant member of the coalition against Islamic State, a stance that annoyed NATO ally Washington with the air strikes doing little so far to "degrade and destroy" IS capabilities, as President Barack Obama described their goal.
Ankara has now, for the first time, taken a front-line role in the battle, apparently spurred to action by the suicide bombing in the border town of Suruc.
Many of those killed in the 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. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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