Turkish officials in the southeastern Mardin province bordering Syria on Monday announced a six-day ban on gatherings following an outpouring of anger over an offensive against Kurdish fighters across the border.
Turkey’s Kurdish community has denounced the government’s support for a Syrian offensive against a semi-autonomous northeastern region under Kurdish control.
During a protest to denounce the operation last week, over 1,000 people attempted to breach the border crossing into Syria from the town of Nusaybin.
The ban on gatherings in Mardin is in place until Saturday evening.
“With the exception of events deemed appropriate … any action intended to be carried out in open spaces (gatherings, marches, press conferences, hunger strikes, sit-ins, the setting up of stands, the pitching of tents, the distribution of leaflets/brochures, the posting of posters/banners, etc.) is prohibited,” the Mardin governorate said in a statement.
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party had called a protest on Tuesday in Nusaybin, which is across the border from the Syrian city of Qamishli.
The call came despite the ceasefire currently in effect in northern Syria.
Turkey already banned outdoor gatherings in Diyarbakir, the main city in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, between Friday and Monday evening.
The Turkish government has launched a peace process with the banned Kurdistatn Workers’ Party (PKK), but the clashes in northern Syria threaten to derail negotiations.
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