On Sunday evening, as members of the Syrian Kurdish community were celebrating the festival of Nowruz, which marks the Iranian and Persian New Year, brawls broke out with members of the Turkish community. Police have since said they will increase surveillance in schools and mosques in the region.
The European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress condemned what they described as a “fascist attack” organized by the “Turkish state itself,” and criticized Belgian police and government for being “spectators.”
The Kurdish freedom movement, meanwhile, depicted Sunday’s clashes as “organized violence” by the Turkish ultra-nationalist organization Grey Wolves against the Kurdish community, Belga News Agency reported.
On the other hand, members of the Turkish community have said the Kurds were flying flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara considers a terrorist organization and which was seen as a provocation.
Kurdish separatist group PKK has frequently clashed with government forces in Turkey since the 1980s, amid calls for an independent Kurdish state. Ankara has launched frequent strikes against Kurdish militants in neighboring Syria and Iraq.