Military vehicles move a deserted street of Silvan, southerneastern Turkey, during a curfew following clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants on November 10, 2015. © Ilyas Akengin / AFP
Armored vehicles patrolling the streets, reports of starvation looming and civilians killed – a small pro-Kurdish town of Silvan has become a hotspot after the Turkish military launched and operation on November 3. The curfew has entered its second week.
The city neighborhoods of Tekel, Mescit and Konak have been mostly hit by the shelling as journalists at the scene reported of shattered glass, debris in the streets and bullet-riddled buildings.
“Witnesses said the police had started shooting at the tea house out of the blue,” said Omer Onen, the co-chair of HDP’s Diyarbakir office, as cited by AFP. “There is no access to communication, people are at risk of starvation. They [Turkish military] didn’t give us any permission to distribute food.”
HDP deputy Ziya Pir claimed an official from the Interior Ministry told them that the security forces “will erase three Silvan neighborhoods from the map,” as cited by Evrensel newspaper.
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Several people have been killed since the curfew was launched in the city on November 3. AFP reported seven casualties, which included two civilians and a policeman. Local IMC news website said that a small boy was killed in the shelling.
“You can be killed while drinking tea or while going to buy bread by snipers or police vehicles in Silvan,” another deputy from the HDP, Çaglar Demirel, said.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Sibel Yigitalp told AFP that Turkish soldiers have been randomly shelling civilian homes in Silvan.
“If you are using tanks in residential areas, it means you have launched a war on your own people.”