Turkish security forces have clashed with Kurdish protesters on the border as the country struggles to cope with a growing flood of refugees fleeing Islamic State extremists in Syria.
More than 130,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the last four days alone, and the authorities are preparing for many more.
But one of the biggest waves of refugees since the Syrian civil war began has seen tensions flare.
Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of Kurdish youths gathered on the Turkish side of the border near Suruc, responding to calls from Kurdish leaders to join the fight against the militants who have seized swathes of Iraq and Syria and declared an Islamic state, or caliphate.
Fleeing refugees said the militants were executing people of all ages Kurdish fighters say they have halted the IS advance east of the Syrian city of Kobani - also known as Ayn al Arab - just a few miles from the Turkish border, but that fierce fighting was continuing.
Residents fleeing Kobani said the militants were executing people of all ages in villages they seized.
Turkey's deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus warned the number could rise to "a refugee wave that can be expressed by hundreds of thousands".
"This is not a natural disaster. What we are faced with is a man-made disaster.
"We don't know how many more villages may be raided, how many more people may be forced to seek refuge.
"An uncontrollable force at the other side of the border is attacking civilians. The extent of the disaster is worse than a natural disaster."
A balaclava-clad Kurdish activist Shirwan, 28, said: "We all want to cross the border. We tried yesterday but they attacked us, and we will try again today."
Locals said protesters had gathered from cities across Turkey's predominantly Kurdish southeast.
Conservative estimates say several hundred Turkish Kurds have already crossed to join the fight.
The advances by Sunni insurgents just across Turkey's southern border has alarmed the government in the country's capital Ankara.
But Turkey has been slow to join calls for a coalition to fight IS, concerned in part about about links between the Syrian Kurds and Turkey's own Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which waged an armed campaign for Kurdish rights over several decades.
While Turkey has denied giving any support to the Islamist militants, the West argues its open borders during Syria's three-year civil war allowed Islamic State and other radical groups to grow in power.
The PKK issued a rallying call to Turkey's Kurds on Sunday, saying "supporting this heroic resistance" in Kobani was a "debt of honour".
Meanwhile, IS has called on supporters to attack citizens of the US, France and other countries which have joined a coalition to combat the terror group.
And an IS spokesman also taunted US President Barack Obama and other Western "crusaders" saying their forces faced inevitable defeat.
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