16 killed in pro-Kurdish protests across Turkey

Pro-Kurdish demonstrations across Turkey have already resulted in 16 deaths, the local television station NTV reported Wednesday, according to RIA Novosti.

There have been eight deaths in Turkey's main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir following demonstrations in support of the Kurdish population of Kobani. According to the Anadolu agency, the rest were killed in protests in Mardin, Siirt, Batman and Mus - cities in the southeast of Turkey. A curfew was declared in the provinces of those cities.

The police have used rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds.

Several hundred protesters have taken to the streets in areas of Istanbul and the country's southeastern provinces to demonstrate their disapproval of Turkey's non-interference policy in respect of the developments in Kobani, a town on the border between Syria and Turkey, currently fighting against Islamic State (IS).