NUSAYBIN, Turkey, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Turkey suspended construction of a wall on its border with Syria because of violent protests by pro-Kurdish activists, officials say.
The decision was announced Thursday, Today's Zaman reported, citing reports in local news media.
The building of the wall, described by the government as a security measure, angered members of the Kurdish minority in both Turkey and Syria. During a demonstration called by the Peace and Freedom Party, usually known by its Turkish acronym BDP, protesters threw stones at police, who responded with tear gas.
Thousands of refugees from the Syrian civil war have crossed into Turkey.
Ayse Gokkan, the mayor of Nusaybin, the town where the wall is being built, ended a hunger strike Thursday after nine days, the newspaper Hurriyet reported. She is a member of the BDP.
"We think the protest has reached its goal," a party official told Hurriyet.
Gokkan had referred to the wall as "the wall of shame," the British newspaper The Guardian said.
The Kurds, a distinct ethnic group that speaks a language related to Farsi, the language of Iran, have communities in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Many Kurds advocate either autonomous Kurdish regions in the countries where they live or an independent Kurdistan.
