As ISIS forces penetrated the besieged north Syrian town of Kobani [8], setting off street battles with Kurdish defenders, Kurds across Turkey took to the streets in angry protests at Ankara's inaction. Authorities in the southern province of Mardin declared a curfew in six districts after clashes with police, but Kurds continue to take to the streets in defiance of the order. One young protester was killed in the southeastern city of Mus as police fired on demonstrators—some of whom were armed, by Turkish media accounts. In Diyarbakir, Turkey's largest Kurdish city, two were killed and 10 others injured as Islamist militants attacked Kurdish protesters, sparking a shootout. Protesters reportedly fired shots in the air in the eastern city of Batman. In Istanbul, police used tear gas and water canon to disperse angry protests in Kurdish neighborhoods, and clashes were also reported between demonstrators and Turkish nationalist gangs. One protester was shot in the head and critically injured in the city's Sarigazi district. In the Kadikoy neighborhood, human rights lawyer Tamer Dogan was badly wounded after being hit in the head by a tear-gas canister.
Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has mobilized troops to the border, but has not intervened as ISIS closes its ring around Kobani. Turkey's pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP [9]), issued a call for protests "against ISIS attacks and the AKP's stance on Kobani." (BBC News [10], AFP [11], Today's Zaman [12], BIANet [13], Al Manar [14])
Kurdish protests have also spread across Europe. Kurds in Brussels forced their way into the European Parliament building, demanding more support for Kurdish forces fighting the ISIS in Syria. Hundreds of Kurds occupied the Dutch parliament and the government building in The Hague. In London, Kurdish protesters occupied Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2. Kurds also marched in Berlin and several other German cities. (TeleSUR [15], RIA Novosti [16], Oct. 7)
The US and its allies for a second time hit ISIS positions outisde Kobani with air-strikes on Oct. 7. The US-led coalition has conducted more than 95 air-strikes in Syria, but only about nine near Kobani, according to US Central Command. (The Hill [17]) Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Oct. 7 that "Kobani is about to fall," and said that air-strikes were ineffectual. "I am telling the West: dropping bombs from the air will not provide a solution," Erdogan said on a visit to a refugee camp in the eastern city of Gaziantep, across the border from Kobani. (Rudaw [18]) Tens of thousands of Kurds have swamped President Barack Obama's official Facebook page [19] with calls for the US to come to the rescue of Kobani. "Save Kobane," read thousands of comments under one presidential posting that quotes Obama as saying: "The people of the world look to us to lead. And we welcome that responsibility. We are heirs to a proud legacy of freedom." (Rudaw [20])
