There have been protests in southeastern Turkey against a wall being built along the border with Syria in a bid to control illegal movement. In largely Kurdish Nusaybin district, plans call for the wall to span just a fraction of the 900-kilometre border, but this highlights Ankara’s growing concern about the spillover of violence from northern Syria, a battleground for armed groups who want territory. A local official in Nusaybin did not confirm how long the wall would be. <br /><br />The mayor of the village is on a hunger strike to stop construction.<br /><br />A resident said: “Putting up a wall here means separating the Kurdish people. We know who is being divisive. The people of Nusaybin do not accept this. We will react. Our mayor is not alone.”<br /><br />Kurdish politician Resat Kaymaz said: “We’ve said it before, this is a wall of shame. Walls around the world have been brought down. Some took a while, but they’ve been brought down. We are fighting for this wall not to be built. But if it goes up, it will come down. This is not a wall being built on a border. This is a wall being built between the people of Kurdistan. We want the building to stop.”<br /><br />Turkey – open to refugees – is sheltering around half a million people who have fled the war in Syria, but smugglers and rebel fighters have been able to cross the border undetected in many remote areas and it is a major security challenge.
