Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc announced that 14 people were detained for taking down the Turkish flag in Nusaybin, where the border crossing between Turkey and Syria is located, Turkish state television “TRT Haber“ reported, quoted by BTA.
The incident occurred during a protest organized after the call by the pro-Kurdish DEM party to express dissatisfaction with the Syrian army's operation against Syrian Kurdish militias in northeast Syria, which the Turkish government supports. The demonstrators also clashed with police as they tried to make their way into Syria.
The Syrian government seized parts of the country's northeast this week and gave the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) four days to agree to integrate into the central state, Reuters recalls. Turkey considers the SDF a terrorist organization linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. In its peace process with the PKK, Ankara has called on the group and its offshoots to disband and disarm. From Ankara – the main foreign backer of the new Syrian government, praised Damascus' progress against the SDF and repeatedly called for Damascus' integration with the Syrian state apparatus.
A total of “105 people have been detained, and arrest warrants have been issued for 50 people“, said Turkey's justice minister.
According to data presented by Yılmaz Tunç, the scope of the investigation includes 393 people, and 35 people were detained yesterday. Those detained specifically for taking down the flag are 14 people.
“Necessary procedural actions are being taken in connection with provocations during various demonstrations, for which clashes between Syrian government forces and Syrian Kurdish militias are cited as the reason“, Tunç said.