ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of Kurds gathered in solidarity for a third day on the Turkish side of a border crossing with Syria on Sunday, as some 70,000 Syrian Kurds were reported to have fled across the border in just two days to escape Islamic State (IS) militants.
Refugees who had waited days for permission to cross the border to safety complained of suffering, disease and death.
“We have been here for four days without water and food,” said Fidan Mohammad, one of the many who had been waiting to cross. “Our children are dying of hunger... we are humiliated and we are all starving here,” she told Rudaw TV, while clutching an infant.
Tension on the border had led to clashes early Sunday.
“Security forces trying to maintain order fired tear gas and water cannon and some protesters started throwing stones at them in frustration,” Turkey’s Zaman newspaper reported. It said the clash happened on the Turkish side of the barbed-wire border fence near the town of Suruc, where many of the refugees later crossed.
Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency said it was expecting hundreds of thousands more to arrive in Turkey.
The UNHCR said in a statement late Saturday that an estimated 70,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey within 24 hours on Friday and Saturday, and hundreds of thousands more are expected to arrive over the coming days.
"Turkish government authorities and UNHCR are preparing for the possibility of hundreds of thousands more refugees arriving over the coming days, as the battle for the northern Syrian city of Kobane (Ayn al-Arab in Arabic) forces more people to flee,” the statement said.
Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported that the refugees had arrived in the Turkish province of Sanliurfa in massive numbers, since a siege and renewed IS assaults on Kobane, which hosts nearly 200,000 internally displaced people, mainly from Syria’s Kurdish minority.
“I commend Turkey’s welcoming response to offer refuge and aid to this population so suddenly and violently driven from their homes in fear for their lives,” said Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Turkey currently hosts at least 847,266 Syrian refugees, according to UN figures.
Salih Muslim, the leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) which controls Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), warned Friday of a humanitarian crisis in Kobane.
He likened the situation to Shingal, the Yezidi town in northern Iraq that was captured by IS last month. Hundreds of Yezidis were reported killed, women were seized as war booty and huge numbers were evicted or forced to flee.
“Our people were slaughtered in Shingal and our women and girls were sold,” Muslim told Sterk TV, which is close to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). “Honor is everything. We have been wounded. We still have an opportunity to prevent a repetition in Kobane.”
The PYD leader called on local tribes and the international community to assist the Kurds in Rojava.
Muslim was also quoted saying that Kobane “is facing the fiercest and most barbaric attack in its history.”
More than 60 villages have fallen to the IS near Kobane.
The United States has been involved in airstrikes against IS in Iraq since last month. President Barack Obama said last week the US would not hesitate to strike the radical group in Syria, but attacks there have yet to commence.
The new IS attacks on Kobane follow a siege that left the city without water or electricity and a virtual blockade.
The People’s Protection Units (YPG), which remains isolated because of its links to the PKK, is the strongest military force in Rojava. The PKK is regarded as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States, and is vehemently opposed by Turkey.
Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani has called on Kurdish parties and the international community to assist the people of Kobane against the attacks.
“We appeal to all Kurdish forces to put aside their differences and unite to defend the dignity, the land and the lives of the citizens of Kobane,” Barzani said in a statement.
