Turkey's bloodiest massacre and displacement of the Kurds since the 1990s is happening now
“The police and military are using every kind of violence against the Kurds. They are using tanks and heavy armoured vehicles. They have flattened houses, historical places, mosques. They use helicopters and technological weapons, night vision binoculars and drones. They don’t let families get to the bodies of youths who were killed. Corpses remain on the streets for weeks.” [x] [video x]
“The neighbourhood assembly made the decision and that assembly was elected by the people who live there. Most of the local people agreed to the declaration of autonomy. The Patriotic Democratic Youth Movement (YDG-H) built the barricades. The main reason for the barricades is to prevent activists and youths from police attacks. Police always carry out raids against them.”
Since August 2015, the state has declared 58 open-ended, round-the-clock curfews on various cities in the south-east of its borders. The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey stated in its February report that “at least 1,337,000 residents have been affected by these curfews and the fundamental rights of these people such as the right to life and the right to health are explicitly violated”. Meanwhile, Turkey’s Human Rights Association reported that:
“The curfew itself is a violation of the right to life and prevents the truth about civilian killings from being revealed. In fact, the curfews contribute to the legitimatisation by the government of civilian killings, which are not considered violations of the right to life.” [x]
Residents, including children, are being killed daily by state forces. As the wounded lie dying in the streets, those who try to help them are shot. [video] In Amed, the mother of Turgay Girçek is currently holding a daily vigil to try to reclaim the body of her nineteen year old son, who has been lying dead on the streets for three weeks.
“The police and army want to break the will of the people who have declared autonomy,” Baran tells us. “They want to show the other Kurdish neighbourhoods that the state is very strong. They want to spread fear into people’s hearts. They want to break people’s political wills and choices.”
Anti-Kurdish Graffiti on a house in Amed’s Sur district. It reads "God is enough for everything. Esadullah Unit” and “You will see the power of the Turk”.
In the city of Cizîr, over 100 wounded citizens were trapped in three different basements, without food and water, for weeks. Turkish security forces blocked ambulances that tried to reach the injured, and shot at those who tried to leave the basements. Yesterday 11 more corpses found in Cizre, bringing death toll in massacre to 158. A total of 242 people have been killed as a result of attacks by Turkish state forces during the course of the curfew ongoing for over 2 months. Many were caught under debris as one of the buildings collapsed under artillery fire, while others were burnt to death after state forces used petrol to set the building alight. Police also fired teargas into one of the basements, making it impossible for the survivors to breathe.
Yasemin Çıkmaz, who was burnt to death in one of the basements of Cizîr (JINHA News Agency)
JINHA news agency has also reported that unknown chemicals were pumped into the sewer system in Cizîr:
“The chemical agent, which has a smell similar to tear gas, has entered residents’ homes through water drains in kitchens and baths. Meanwhile, state forces have shut down the last remaining markets, bakeries and pharmacies in the town until further notice.”
Turkey’s Human Rights Association (IHD) has issued a statement, listing a huge number of human rights violations by the state of Turkey. IHD has documented a number of citizens who have died in Cizîr and Silopi. Amongst those who have lost their lives is a 70 year old elderly man, Selahattin Bozkurt, who was shot dead by security forces as he walked into his garden. A three month old infant, Miray İnce, died after she was seriously injured in the face by gunfire from security forces. Her grandfather, 73 year old Ramazan İnce, was shot dead by security forces as he was trying to carry his granddaughter to an ambulance, while at the same time waving a white flag. [x]
JINHA has also reported that in the city of Silopi, thousands of people were evicted from their houses and marched to a gymnasium. Sabriye Gizer told JINHA that her family were assaulted as they were forced out of their home. She continued:
“We were walked by force of arms. One woman and one man walked ahead of us. One shouted: ‘Shoot them, shoot them’. They opened fire on them. We don’t know if they are alive. It was cold. We froze. They chose some young people. They took them somewhere. They searched us thoroughly, even our underwear.”
Meanwhile, state violence intensified in Nisêbîn (Nusaybin in Turkish) at the weekend and twelve year old Muğdat Ay was shot dead by state forces as he played marbles in the street.
Listen to the residents of Sur - Amed (video)
The recent attacks on the Kurdish cities have resulted in mass displacement of people who have had to flee their homes. Ercan Ayboğa told us that in Amed, around 50,000 people have evacuated their houses. “Together with the other cities in North Kurdistan, up to half a million people have had to leave their homes,” he stated.
Baran tells us about the people who are the most affected in Amed:
“Sur is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Amed. And it’s highly political, of course. In the 1990s the people were forced to leave their villages and came to the city. [Turkey’s security forces burnt down Kurdish villages in the 90s. Over 3000 villages were wiped from the map, while thousands of people were either killed or disappeared]. And now the same people have again been displaced. One of the reasons for destroying Sur now could be that they want to rebuild it again. It will become a business and district centre.”
Indeed, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu recently stated that Sur district of Amed is to be rebuilt similar to Toledo in Spain. Kurdish HDP co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş responded that it was no coincidence that Davutoğlu compared Sur to Toledo, the Spanish city famous for its struggle against fascism. “After Toledo surrendered to the dictatorial regime, Franco took full control of Spain. Prime Minister [Davutoğlu] now wants to declare his dictatorship by toppling Sur,” he announced last week.
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