The Kurdish towns and cities are still under Turkish military siege. After hundreds of thousands joined hands with the Kurdish people of Cizre under Turkish curfew, Turkey was forced to lift the blockade on this Kurdish town. However, angered by the solidarity of the people, Turkish state installed curfews to many other places, including some […]
The Kurdish towns and cities are still under Turkish military siege. After hundreds of thousands joined hands with the Kurdish people of Cizre under Turkish curfew, Turkey was forced to lift the blockade on this Kurdish town. However, angered by the solidarity of the people, Turkish state installed curfews to many other places, including some neighborhoods of Diyarbakir, a dominantly Kurdish city.
In the 10 day siege of Cizre, which saw 7 days of continuous 24 hour curfew where nobody was allowed to leave their homes for 168 hours with no electricity or water, many people died needlessly because they could not go to a hospital. Two people died of heart attacks, and a 35 day old baby was also killed by the Turkish police when the parents were not allowed to transport the baby to a hospital.
When ambulances were called, the police outside the neighborhoods prevented them from reaching the patients. When some ambulances were able to break the Turkish military and police barriers and snuck in to transport the sick, as documented by widespread videos the Turkish police sharp shooters and military assassins on roof tops opened fire on the ambulance drivers and medics. Many more people were killed by the Turkish police when they could not endure the hunger or thirst anymore after a 7 day and night curfew and stepped out to find food or water for their starving families. A 75 year old grandfather said “nobody will shoot a 75 year old man,” to his family and stepped out to find bread but soon was shot in the head by the Turkish forces and his body left on the streets with his bread sack next to him.
After the solidarity and peace march of tens of thousands to the town of Cizre, Turkish Republic was forced to give a break to the military operations against the civilians. However, the murdered civilians had to be kept in refrigerators or at home until the curfew was lifted.
Hundreds of thousands participated in the funerals where the burials became a slap on the face of the Turkish Republic and the racist government. As if challenging the government, hundred thousand people marched with the caskets of those murdered by the Turks wrapped in the illegal flags of PKK and the Kurdish colors of yellow, green and red. Having those colors will end anyone in prison in today’s “modern” Turkey. As the stupefied racists watched, people shouted in unison, “Murderer Erdogan” in the mass funeral in Cizre accusing the president Erdogan for the death of their loved ones.
Lying on public TV, Erdogan and his ministers kept repeating that every single person killed in Cizre was a terrorist. This, against their statement the day before that there wasn’t a single death in Cizre!
When questioned whether the 75 year old grandfather or the 35 day old baby, or the 10 year old girl shot by Turkish forces were terrorists, the Turkish government chose not to respond.
After the curfew was lifted for only a day, the siege started again the next day again with a new curfew.
Other Kurdish towns are also under curfew. In Sirnak, another Kurdish town in the East, a 1.5 year old baby may become the next victim of traditional Turkish racism.
As they do elsewhere, the Turkish police attacked the neighborhood in Sirnak first by blowing up the power transformer to hide under the cover of darkness before they start shooting civilians randomly. When the power was lost, so was the oxygen supply of the 1.5 year old baby, Ercument, who lived in that neighborhood. The parents were able to find a generator that allowed the little baby to breathe. The generator will last for a day and a half after which Ercument will die for sure.
Parents called the emergency services which sent an ambulance to take the baby to the hospital. However the police did not allow the ambulance to enter the region. Just like how they did not allow the ambulance to reach the 35 day old baby in Cizre.
Trying to save their baby’s life, the parents called their representative from the pro-Kurdish, progressive HDP party that received the highest percentage of votes in Cizre.
Even when the Assembly representative from HDP intervened, the Turkish police still did not allow any medical aid to enter the Kurdish neighborhood.
Sendika.Org News (Mehmet Bayram)
