ISTANBUL
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Most Turkish newspapers on Monday covered President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks over the demonstrations which have broken out in different cities around the country linked to the plight of the ISIL-besieged Syrian-Kurdish town of Kobani which is just kilometers from Turkey’s southern border.
The front page of SABAH quotes President Erdogan condemning the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party group: "Their [PKK] aim is to leave Kurdish children uneducated." Speaking on a visit to the north-eastern province of Bayburt, Erdogan harshly criticized some demonstrators who, over the course of the street protests, have burned schools and destroyed libraries.
”Vandals will pay the price"
HURRIYET quoted Erdogan as saying: "Vandals will pay the price", going on to report that the Turkish president vowed that he would not bow to "a few hoodlums," promising to deal with such enemies within the rules of democracy.
The nationwide protests erupted last week after Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant extremists penetrated Kobani.
Protesters claimed that the Turkish government has done nothing to halt the relentless advance of the militant group in the Syrian city, which has become the scene of fierce street battles between Kurdish groups and ISIL.
In other news, media organizations reported the results of elections to the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors.
Over 12,000 judges and prosecutors went to the polls on Sunday to elect 16 primary and substitute members of the High Council's 22-member general assembly.
"New term" reported VATAN, referring to the results of the election, saying that 8 out of 10 members of the 'Unity in the Judiciary Platform' – a group known for its pro-government stance – became new members of the High Council.
ZAMAN ran the headline: "Elections for judicial council HSYK held amid heavy government interference."
However, judges and prosecutors said “‘no’ to an ideological understanding of the judiciary,” Turkish justice minister, Bekir Bozdag, claimed.
"They protected our democracy, the rule of law and pluralism," the minister added.
Bozdag said that Turkish judges and prosecutors had prevented the hegemony that “a certain group” wanted to build over the judiciary, a reference to the followers of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen, who has been accused of controlling Turkey’s top judicial body.
www.aa.com.tr/en
