Turkish military destroyed 6,320 buildings in five kurd southeastern provinces amid clashes

May 30, 2016 By administrator

Some 6,320 buildings in five southeastern provinces have been destroyed amid security operations in the region against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmuş has said, adding that the number corresponds to approximately 11,000 residential units.

Kurtulmuş mentioned five southeastern districts in his speech, namely the Sur district of Diyarbakır province, the Silopi, İdil and Cizre districts of Şırnak province and the Yüksekova district of Hakkari province.

“The number of buildings destroyed in the Sur, Silopi, Cizre, İdil and Yüksekova districts is 6,320. If we think of them in terms of flats, it’s approximately 11,000 units. The predicted cost to repair the buildings is around 855 million Turkish Liras,” Kurtulmuş told journalists at a press meeting after a cabinet meeting at Çankaya Mansion in the capital Ankara on May 30, citing a report by the Environment and Urbanization Ministry.

Meanwhile, a curfew that was imposed on March 13 in Yüksekova has been partially lifted, making way for local citizens who left the district to avoid clashes between PKK militants and Turkish security forces to go back.

Most of the residents migrated to the eastern province of Van after the curfew came into force and additional trips were organized by companies for the residents who wanted to go back to Yüksekova.

“I’m happy to go back to my house. I only took my suitcase when I was leaving. I’m going back with the same one,” said Sevi Aslan, who moved to Istanbul three months ago in order to escape the clashes.

“According to the information I received from the province, the doors of our house were broken, our clothes were burned and major destruction took place. We don’t accept this cruelty. We will continue to live in our province,” Aslan told Anadolu Agency on May 30.

Kurdish Forces PKK trade deadly attacks with Turkish military in southeast of country

May 18, 2016 By administrator

0,,19255407_303,00 At least five soldiers and 10 rebels have died during intensified fighting in southeastern Turkey in the past 48 hours. The two sides traded roadside bombings and airstrikes, as both sides dig in for a prolonged fight.

Fighting in southeast Turkey is intensifying as both the Turkish army and rebel Kurdish fighters claimed deadly attacks on Wednesday.

Kurdish militants killed four Turkish soldiers and injured nine more – four of them seriously – when a roadside bomb exploded as their military convoy drove past.

Turkey-PKK conflict: Clashes in southeast

The attack by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) occurred in southeast Turkey, near the Iraqi border. The Turkish army is responding with additional ground troops backed by helicopters to the area.

Shortly after news of the PKK attack, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported that Turkish fighter jets had killed 10 Kurdish rebels. Citing a military source, the Anadolu Agency reported Wednesday afternoon that the air strike occurred on Monday.

It is unclear why news of the Turkish attack took two days to filter out.

Deadly attacks in Hakkari province

Both attacks occurred in the southeastern province of Hakkari. The PKK attack on the Turkish soldiers occurred 45 miles (70 km) from the town of Semdinli, near the Iraqi border. It’s unclear where, exactly, the Turkish attack on the Kurdish rebels occurred.

Another statement put out by the Turkish army claims that its warplanes bombed arms depots, shelters and caves used by PKK rebels in the Daglica region in Hakkari province, as well as in northern Iraq.

Earlier in the day PKK rebels killed another Turkish soldier in the town of Nusaybin, near the Syrian border – 310 miles (500 km) away. The city of 100,000 people has been under a round-the-clock curfew for more than two months as security forces battle militants.

Turkey’s army has been battling the PKK in the southeast of the country since the collapse of a 2-year-old ceasefire in July 2015. The renewed fighting has claimed thousands of lives, including 450 Turkish soldiers.

Despite the high death toll suffered by security forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed no let up in the attacks.

The Turkish air force has also been launching frequent attacks on PKK positions in the mountainous region of northern Iraq, where the rebels have camps near the Turkish border.

The PKK has been waging an armed struggle against Turkey for more autonomy, if not outright independence, for more than 30 years. More than 40,000 people have been killed in one of Europe’s longest running insurgencies, which began in 1984.

bik/bw (Reuters, AP, AFP)

Turkish military: ‘Erasing Kurd from map’? witnesses reveal scope of military op in pro-Kurdish town

November 11, 2015 By administrator

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.

https://twitter.com/ateist_hatun/status/664388647945375744

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.”