BDP protests construction of wall on Syrian border

14 October 2013 /TODAY’S ZAMAN, ANKARA – The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has strongly criticized Turkey for building a wall on the Syrian border, saying that it is aimed at cutting links between Kurds in Turkey and Kurds in Syria. Local residents are also protesting the wall’s construction in Nusaybin, in the southeastern province of Mardin.

Saying that there isn’t any threat from Rojava, (the Kurdish name given to northern Syria) BDP Co-chair Gülten Kışanak stated on Monday that the government is trying to damage the settlement process and he accused it of placing a blockade on Kobani, a Kurdish town located directly across the border from Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district.

Speaking at a press conference in Diyarbakır, Co-chairs of the BDP Selahattin Demirtaş and Kışanak put the controversial construction of the wall in the border town of Nusaybin, 10 kilometers north of the mostly Kurdish town of Qamishli in Syria, on their agenda in addition to the latest developments in Turkish politics and the Kurdish problem.

Kışanak accused the Turkish government of “misleading” the Turkish nation and asked if there had been any security threat coming from Rojava against Turkey. Saying that there has not been any threat and there is no possible threat against Turkey at the moment, Kışanak said that those who have been building the wall in Nusaybin are effectively implementing an embargo against the Kurdish towns in northern Syria. She said such steps could harm the settlement process the government has initiated in order to address Turkey’s decades-old Kurdish problem.

“If you want to solve the Kurdish problem, you cannot impose a blockade on Rojava, you cannot draw a line between Nusaybin and Rojava. The government should fix this problem, or it will pay the price for it,” Kışanak said.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay denied that Turkey is building a wall on its border with Syria while the mayor of a border town and witnesses on the ground said digging has started for its construction. The mayor of Nusaybin, a town that is mostly populated by Kurds and the witnesses then told Today’s Zaman that the construction has been going more than one week and that there will be a one-kilometer-long wall that is two-and-a-half meters high and topped with barbed wire. According to some reports circulating in Turkish media, the foundation of the wall has been laid.

Recalling Israel’s construction of a bombproof steel wall along the Gaza border, Kışanak said that if Turkey wants to act like Israel, Kurds know how to play the role of Palestine. The Nusaybin mayor previously said that the Turkish Land Forces decided on the construction of the wall, and a contingent in Mardin has been handling the issue. She was told that the need to construct a wall arose because of security concerns.

There are also allegations that another wall, which would be around two-and-a-half kilometers in length, will be built at the Öncüpınar border gate in Kilis province, only 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the Syrian town of Azaz.

The BDP’s Kışanak complained that the only access linking Kobani to the outside world is its border with Turkey. “What happened to being opposed to blockades, embargoes? What happened to ‘one minute’?” asked Kışanak, in reference to a 2009 exchange between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Israeli President Shimon Peres during a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, following which Erdoğan stormed out of the meeting in protest of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians.

In late September it was reported that the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) will collect humanitarian aid for Kobani, which has been deeply affected by the civil war in the country and which aid workers have been unable to reach with much-needed assistance. Meanwhile, in Nusaybin, Nusaybin mayor Gökkan and Reşat Kaymaz, Mardin provincial chairman appeared with a group of BDP members near the construction site on Sunday and also released a press statement. Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Kaymaz called the wall a “wall of shame” and said that the Kurdish people would never allow the construction of this wall.

Refuting claims that the reason for the construction is security, Kaymaz said that the wall has political aims and that if the construction continues, deaths may take place.

“They are building this wall because they fear the association of Kurds in Rojava and Kurds in Turkey. We don’t give permission for this wall to be constructed, even if they detain or kill us. We don’t want anybody to lose his life because of this wall. However, if the construction continues, our reaction will be tougher. The Justice and Development Party [AK Party] and the prime minister will be responsible for any possible killing.”

After the press conference, the members of the BDP wanted to stop the construction of the wall and threw rocks into the hole dug for the wall. Because of the demonstration, work was stopped for a while and a large number of troops and riot police deployed to the area. Protestors also wanted to cross the area where there was construction equipment. Soldiers tried to prevent their entry, as the area is a forbidden military zone and the perimeter of the area is mined. Gökkan and Kaymaz succeeded in penetrating the area where the construction equipment was by climbing the iron railing of the mine fields along the border and proceeded to examine the construction site.

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-329037-bdp-protests-construction-of-wall-on-syrian-border.html