Under curfew and heavy artillery attack, residents of Silvan are bravely resisting the Turkish attack. When the police and the special forces fortified by ISIL fighters could not take over the town of Silvan, Turkish state called in the military to break the resistance. Stationed across from the town, military is firing heavy artillery on the civilian neighborhoods of Silvan.

A delegation of pro-Kurdish, left wing party HDP is in Silvan. The elected representatives of HDP are standing with the people and are a special target of the military and the police. Yesterday, military helicopters bombed the town square the HDP representatives were meeting the town residents.

While the full force attack of the Turkish state against its own Kurdish citizens in Silvan causes outrage all over the world, Turks in Turkey in large part are ignorant of the “city war” taking place on their own soil because of a media blackout. Pro government and racist media choses to ignore the human catastrophe this assault brings in the Eastern part of the country, yet another indication of the deep rooted racism and indifference when the suffering are the Kurds. Only a few days ago, an army officer who had been accused of murdering 21 Kurdish citizens under his arrest was set free by the Turkish courts when he defended himself by saying, “We did not shoot humans, they were from the town of Cizre.” He was referring to the judge that he had only killed Kurds who did not matter. The officer is a free man now, cleared of all crimes.

Trying to bring the seriousness of the matter to attention, socialists, left wing activists, Kurds and other concerned parties are trying to stage demonstrations all of which are attacked by brutal police force. Every single attempt to hang banners on the subject or gathering by university students was banned as both private and official security forces attacked and arrested those involved. Turkish state is especially trying to silence those who mention its assault on its own citizens. One reason for this censorship is the fear of the news of how ISIL jihadist militants from Syria have been given “police” vests and are assisting the Turkish forces in murdering the Kurds.

Solidarity rallies in the Kurdish towns, on the other hand, are overwhelming. Yesterday, in Diyarbakir, thousands gathered to show solidarity with their fellow citizens under attack in Silvan. This demonstration too was ignored by the media in Turkey.

Many progressive and socialist organizations are sending delegations to Silvan (Farqin, in Kurdish) to observe the war and show solidarity with the people of Silvan. The Diyarbakir demonstration was echoed in other parts in the East with the chants, “Farqin is everywhere, resistance is everywhere!”

The police forces are ignoring the law giving protection to the elected Assembly representatives and are targeting and attacking the Kurdish elected officials. By law, in Turkey, the representatives have immunity and the police have no power to touch, assault or arrest the assembly members. However, when the issue is Kurds, all the laws are being ignored as police push and shove the elected officials with impunity. Yesterday’s helicopter bombing clearly targeted the representatives. A delegation immediately went to Farqin to protect and ensure the safety of the representatives being attacked by the Turkish forces. However, they too were attacked.

Yesterday, trying to stop the assault and to protect their people the Kurdish HDP representatives tried meeting with the residents in Silvan. This too was met with brutal attacks and the HDP representatives, as well as the people, were pepper sprayed by special forces and the police. The co-chair of HDP Figen Yuksekdag had to take refuge in the HDP office after directly being targeted by the police. There, speaking to mostly the Kurdish media, she said, “Kurdish people are asserting their democratic right of self-rule. Kurdish people are resisting against a corrupt and rotten system and are building their own future by installing a democratic self-rule. Self-rule is a legitimate and democratic right. We will support this democratic right on the side of our people. The sections in Turley who have been poisoned with the lies do not see the events happening in Silvan. Self-rule is the future on Turkey.”

A delegation of observers from the City of Urfa is getting ready to travel to Farqin with a large number of people. There will also be a general strike in Urfa as people will close all businesses and schools for 10 minutes in protest.

The HDP representative Mehmet Ali Aslan, who is in Silvan (Farqin), tweeted, “Heavy clashes are continuing in Farqin. The shots continued all night. Civilians are under very heavy attack.”

A separate delegation from the town of Batman is on its way to Farqin to observe the assault on the civilian residents of the town. Before the delegation got on their way, the HDP representative Saadet Becerikli said, “The State is now waging a very heavy war against the Kurds in Turkey. One thing the rulers are forgetting is that the events will not be limited to Silvan and will spread.”

7 residents have been killed by the Turkish security forces so far in the last 10 days of siege. In the last 3 months, when the Turkish state assaults escalated against the Kurds as a result of unilaterally policy change of the government to affect the elections 13 people have bene killed.

The 10 day 24 hour curfew in Silvan follows the 8 day, 24 hour curfew imposed upon Cizre, another Kurdish town in Turkey where 22 residents had been murdered by Turkey.

The assault of special forces, police, ISIL goons and the military is continuing as of this writing in Silvan (Farqin).

Sendika.org news (Mehmet Bayram)