(26 Sep 2014) About 1,000 Kurdish activists arrived at Turkey's border with Syria on Thursday in response to a call for mass mobilisation against the Islamic State group by the imprisoned leader of the PKK rebel group, Abdullah Ocalan.
The group travelled more than 750 miles (1,200 kilometre) on an overnight bus ride from Istanbul
The activists held a rally chanting "Murderer ISIS, collaborator AKP!" referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, as black smoke and the sound of gunfire from the battle between Islamic State and Kurdish militants drifted over the border.
Turkey vehemently denies it has supported ISIS, which until recently was holding dozens of its diplomatic staff hostage.
Officials have also said in recent days that they remain committed to the peace process with Kurds in Turkey.
Aysen Candas, a political analyst, said that some Kurdish political forces are "arguing that the Turkish side is betraying Kurds by not letting fighters at the Turkish border to pass to the Kobani border and fight with (against) ISIS."
Kurdish leaders have warned that the discord could kill a peace process to end a bloody three-decade conflict over Kurdish autonomy in Turkey.
"If the Turkish authorities want to keep this peace process going and if they don't want to be the party to break this peace process once again, they have to take a stand against this IS terrorist organisation immediately," said one Kurdish local politician, Ismail Kaplan.
Their followers go even further, accusing Turkey of supporting ISIS and using it to attack Kurds.
Those claims persist despite Turkey's participation in a coalition against the Islamic State group and suggestions this week by Erdogan that Turkey may take part in military operations.
Activists who came to the border said they planned to camp there until Turkish authorities let them across.
Some were prepared to join the fight to protect Kobani, a Syrian city just miles (kilometres) away that has been under siege by the Islamic State and emptied except for the Kurdish fighters protecting it.
Turkish law bans people from going to war in a foreign country, but Turkey has tolerated other militants crossing its borders to fight the government of Bashar Assad.
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