Hundreds of Kurds have held demonstrations on both sides of the Syria-Turkey border, denouncing a plan by the Turkish government to build a wall along the frontier.
The protests, organized by Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and Syria’s Democratic Union Party (PYD), were held near Nusaybin District of the southeastern Turkish city of Mardin on Sunday, Turkey’s Hurriyetreported.

Turkish police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protestors.

In a similar event, around 1,000 Syrian Kurds gathered in Qamishli, right across from Nusaybin, and protested against the intervention of the Turkish police.

A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, recently said Turkey was building a 2.5-kilometer wall along part of its border with Syria near an area of frequent fighting between the Syrian army and the foreign-backed militants to stop people from illegally bypassing its checkpoints and prevent smuggling.

“We have not had border security problems in Nusaybin so far, but in that area it is extremely easy for people to cross illegally. It is almost like there is no border,” said the Turkish official.

Turkey shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with its neighbor Syria and is sheltering around a quarter of the two million people who have fled the conflict in Syria.

In July, the United Nations warned that the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey could double to one million by the end of the year if should the unrest in the Arab country not end.

The foreign-sponsored deadly turmoil in Syria erupted in March 2011.

By Press TV

 

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