ADIYAMAN, Turkey
Turkish deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc has accused pro-Kurdish opposition party of inciting last week's deadly illegal protests which broke out across the country.
Ostensibly held to show solidarity with Syria's ISIL-besieged Kurdish town of Kobani, the street protests and clashes across Turkey left at least 34 people and two policemen dead. Scores of vehicles, state buildings, party offices and shops were set on fire or otherwise damaged.
Arinc accused the Peoples' Democratic Party of provoking the trouble.
"The HDP is responsible for the killings and all material and moral damage during the incidents," Arinc said on Wednesday as he visited Turkey's southeastern Adiyaman province.
His remarks followed a week of illegal pro-Kurdish protests in Turkey, mainly in its southeastern provinces, which erupted after ISIL militants entered parts of Kobani, also known as Ayn Al-Arab, on October 6.
After a call for “solidarity” issued by the pro-Kurdish party via social media, protesters took to the streets from October 7. Many demonstrators accused the Turkish government of allegedly doing nothing to halt the advance of the extremists into the border town, which has become the scene of fierce street battles between Kurdish groups and ISIL militants.
Arinc said the real motive behind the violent protests was not Kobani, but to stir up a "longed-for revolt.”
"For years until now, they have all failed in such attempts, so they shall fail now," he said referring to Turkey's ‘solution process’, an effort by the government to end the decades-long conflict with the outlawed PKK, which has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people.
Following the deadly protests, the cabinet led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu decided during its Monday meeting to bring in a new comprehensive domestic security law that will strengthen the hand of the Turkish security forces.
Arinc repeated a claim that there are now no civilians left in battered Kobani; all had entered Turkey, he said.
More than 180,000 Kurdish refugees from Kobani have crossed into Turkey since Ankara opened the border crossing on September 19 after ISIL militants launched an offensive on the Kurdish-populated town.
The battle for control of Kobani between ISIL and the town’s Kurdish defenders is now on a knife-edge.
Turkey’s parliament ratified a motion on October 2 authorizing Davutoglu's government and the armed forces to deploy troops to Syria and Iraq, if necessary, to fight any group threatening the country.
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