Turkey Orders 17 Jailed Pending Trial over 2014 Kobani Protests

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of 82 people including members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), in Istanbul. (Reuters)
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of 82 people including members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), in Istanbul. (Reuters)
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Turkey Orders 17 Jailed Pending Trial over 2014 Kobani Protests

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of 82 people including members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), in Istanbul. (Reuters)
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of 82 people including members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), in Istanbul. (Reuters)

A Turkish court ordered the pre-trial detention on Friday of 17 people, including senior pro-Kurdish opposition members, for their role in violent protests against the army’s inaction during a militant attack on the Syrian Kurdish town Kobani.

The protesters in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast accused Turkey’s army of standing by as ISIS militants besieged Kobani in plain view just across the Syrian border in October 2014. The protests led to the deaths of 37 people.

As well as ordering the formal arrest of 17 people, the Ankara court released three other detainees subject to judicial supervision, the state news agency Anadolu reported. A party source said the same. They were among 82 people ordered detained a week ago.

Turkish authorities said the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, incited the protests and that the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) supported them. The HDP, the third largest party, denies links to terrorism.

Also on Friday, the Interior Ministry said the mayor of northeastern province Kars, Ayhan Bilgen, who was among those remanded in custody, was removed from his position and replaced by the provincial governor.

This means the authorities have now removed all of HDP’s provincial mayors who were elected in March last year. The party now holds six town and district municipalities, compared to the 65 it won in total last year.

Bilgen had said two days ago that he would resign from his position, in an apparent effort to prevent Ankara from appointing an official in his place.

Two HDP lawmakers have been ejected from parliament since elections in 2018 after being convicted on terrorism charges. Eleven others were ejected in the previous term.

Former HDP leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag have been in jail since 2016 on charges related to the Kobani protests.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK took up arms against the state in 1984.



Masked Rioters Attack Highway in Central France

Police officers pass a boarded up high street shop on the Champs Elysees ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain tonight, and Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow, in Paris, France, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson
Police officers pass a boarded up high street shop on the Champs Elysees ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain tonight, and Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow, in Paris, France, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson
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Masked Rioters Attack Highway in Central France

Police officers pass a boarded up high street shop on the Champs Elysees ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain tonight, and Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow, in Paris, France, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson
Police officers pass a boarded up high street shop on the Champs Elysees ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain tonight, and Bastille Day celebrations tomorrow, in Paris, France, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Nicholson

Dozens of masked assailants wielding metal bars and Molotov cocktails attacked cars on a highway and clashed with police Saturday in the city of Limoges in central France, officials said.

The overnight clashes left 10 police wounded, according to authorities, who said they suspect a gang turf war.

The unrest came in the middle of France's summer tourism season.

The armed attackers descended on the RN141 highway and tried to block it during a battle with police, according to officials.

"There were between 100 and 150 masked individuals, armed with Molotov cocktails, fireworks, stones, iron bars and baseball bats," local police union leader Laurent Nadeau told AFP.

Police responded with tear gas and crowd-control munitions.

Mayor Emile Roger Lombertie called the rioters an "urban guerrilla group".

"They're organized, structured, there's a plan, weapons," he said.

"This was not a spontaneous protest to complain about something. No pretext, nothing. It's about destroying things and showing the territory belongs to you," Lombertie added.

Prosecutors said vehicles were attacked but there were no immediate reports of wounded drivers.

Unrest had erupted nearby, in Val de l'Aurence, on the night of July 14, France's national day.

Lombertie said this "very poor neighborhood, with young people from immigrant backgrounds" had become a "lawless zone".

France's interior ministry announced on Saturday plans to deploy a special security force to the city.