Turkey's military has imposed a curfew in parts of the southeast after at least 21 people were killed in pro-Kurdish protests over the government's failure to act against jihadists attacking the Syrian border city of Kobane.
The disturbances were the worst outbreak of such pro-Kurdish violence in years and risked derailing Turkey's own fragile peace process with the Kurds.
In a move unprecedented since the deadliest days of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s, the army was deployed to impose a curfew in several cities in the east.
The violence was concentrated in the mainly Kurdish southeast but also flared in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, with empty buses firebombed and protesters hurling stones at police.
In the capital Ankara, security forces used tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed "hooligans" for the unrest that threatens to hurt a fragile peace process between Ankara and Kurdish rebels.
"I urge my fellow citizens... not to let themselves be exploited by marginal groups and I reiterate that public order will be restored by any means," he said after a meeting with ministers and security chiefs.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has so far not intervened militarily against Islamic State (IS) jihadists trying to take Kobane, to the fury of Turkey's Kurds.
Ten of the deaths came in Turkey's main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, where the most intense rioting took place overnight on Wednesday, the government said.
Five deaths were blamed on clashes between Kurdish activists and supporters of the HUDA-PAR Kurdish Sunni Islamist group which is sympathetic to IS.
"Everyone should refrain from expressing their hatred and displaying violence so that the protests do not spread," Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker said on a visit to Diyarbakir, blaming the clashes on the "lobby of chaos".
Other people were reported killed in Mardin, Siirt, Batman, Mus and Van - all cities in the southeast of Turkey with large populations of Kurds.
The Turkish army has been deployed on the streets in parts of six cities to enforce an open-ended curfew.
Share
