Messages of condemnation poured in on Wednesday after supporters of the PKK terrorist group brought down a flag on the Turkish-Syrian border on Tuesday. The Turkish flag adorned streets across the country in public protest of the incident.
An angry mob convened in Nusaybin, a town right across Syria’s Qamishli, and tried to cross the border into the neighboring country, to demonstrate their support for the PKK’s Syria wing, the YPG, which was forced to withdraw from areas it occupied upon a major offensive by the Syrian army. Several people were seen hoisting down a Turkish flag on the border during the incidents. The video of the incident quickly circulated on social media, drawing the ire of the public, which views the flag as sacred.
For Turks, the flag is the symbol of independence and sovereignty, and any acts hurting its image almost amount to blasphemy. In 1996, a Greek Cypriot was shot dead by Turkish soldiers as he attempted to take down a Turkish flag by climbing the flagpole in a military post on the island of Cyprus in a well-publicized event.
Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç told reporters on Wednesday that 14 suspects were detained in connection with the incident and an investigation was underway.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also said on Wednesday that they would “find the dirty hands attacking our glorious flag and will punish them.” Government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli was also furious over the incident. He said apart from those bringing down the flag, those “mentoring them” should be “found and punished.” “If they have connections to any foreign intelligence service, this should be investigated too,” the politician said in a written statement. Bahçeli linked the incidents in Nusaybin to an “imperialist-Zionist plot” and accused the pro-PKK Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) of “inciting Kurds.”
