Dark smoke rises out of the Mescit neighborhood of Silvan on the 11th day of its curfew.
The neighborhoods of Tekel and Konak are also under the control of the special police forces.
Terrorist State of Turkey Special forces teams have taken over the area, not allowing anyone on the streets for days on end. The frustration of the locals has reached the boiling point against the state as they hold them responsible for the chaos and endangerment.
Several schools have closed and at least five mosques have been damaged in clashes. Families are abandoning their homes with only the clothes on their back, going to stay with relatives in safer neighborhoods where the curfew has been lifted.
One mother from the Mescit neighborhood told Today’s Zaman that she, along with her two children, was forced to leave her home due to the ongoing conflict between the Turkish security forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) . Asking to remain anonymous, she explained how in the first days of the curfew the security forces arrived at her home and ordered her to leave with her children immediately. She took her son and daughter and fled to the home of her parents. “My life has turned into a true hell,” she notes as she details the fright of her children amongst the sounds of explosions and gunshots.
“My little daughter began to cry whenever she heard a gunshot, particularly in the evenings. And in the following days of the curfew, I was instructed to leave the home on the grounds that the PKK militants were inside the houses. I was not even allowed to take our clothes with me. They didn’t tell us where we could go; they just instructed me to leave. I took my children and went to my family’s home in the Feridon neighborhood. However, my family suffers from severe financial problems and my father is disabled, preventing him from working,” she adds.
Another Mescit resident, Murat Kenan, spoke with Today’s Zaman on a street parallel to where the curfew is imposed, stating, “They [the police] break the doors of our home and enter. They have no right to do that. We don’t want a state that does this. They have ruined our homes. Everything we have they have destroyed.” He is the father of five children who cannot attend school currently. Several schools have closed and at least five mosques have been damaged in the clashes.
Kenan explained that his family is not receiving any aid from the state, “They don’t give us rent money, so we are staying with family.” His family has taken refuge at the home of his father-in-law. Kenan, like many other local residents, expresses great anger toward the state due to the worsening living conditions. “The prime minister and the president did this to gain votes,” he said.