VOA Kurdish Service video shows Turkish police using water cannons on demonstrators in Kurdish-dominated Diyarbakir in Turkey's southeast, who were protesting against Turkey's military offense into northeast Syria, Thursday, October 10.

Turkey's offensive, launched Wednesday, is aimed at removing fighters affiliated with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the main fighting force within Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), from areas near the Syria-Turkey border, Turkish officials said.

Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist organization with ties to the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting a guerilla war for an independent Kurdish state in Turkey.

The United States makes a distinction, however, between the two Kurdish groups, backing the YPG in its fight against Islamic State militants.

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