In 2015, Turkish government initiated a military attack on its citizens in the east and started taking over entire towns and neighborhoods even using heavy artillery. The attempt was an ongoing demonstration of suppression of the Kurdish identity who are dominantly in the east as well as break the support of the pro-Kurdish electoral parties for the upcoming elections.

In 2016 for example, when the assault was continuing after a year, the Sur neighborhood of Diyarbakır was still under military control with a very strict curfew. The region has a Kurdish majority and the Turkish government had escalated its attacks on the Kurds. As a part of these attacks, the residents of the neighborhood had been ordered to abandon their homes and disappear.

The curfew in Sur continues to this day. The clampdown on the Kurds is the longest curfew in the world with the residents still forced to obey strict measures dictated by the police, the army, and the Turkish government in their daily lives. The 2015 curfew is being used by the government to forcefully take over the homes and flip them in the market by allowing government allied contractors and real estate corporations for huge profits. The original residents are shut out and have no say in decisions concerning their properties.

One mother of 5, Nurşen Demir, who refused to abandon her home when ordered to leave has just been given 10 years of prison sentence by a Turkish court. This event happened in the Nusaybin town of Mardin province where the Kurds also are the majority.

In May of 2016 those residents who “disobeyed” the order to abandon their homes were forcefully removed from their residences. Out of 70 people who were forced out 17 were children.

Nurşen Demir was only one of the mothers who refused to leave her home when the police came knocking on the door. She had to pay a price, a heavy price, for protecting her home from the military takeover by her government.

The court heard the accusations against the mother that had the usual and standard charges of “being a member of a terrorist organization”, “murder”, “attempt to murder”, “damage to public property”, and “having dangerous materials.” Yes, all these charges were piled because she did not leave her home when ordered by the police.

Nurşen’s attorney Gülbin Şahin rejected the charges and expressed that the charges were bogus and fake and were levelled to punish her client for not abandoning her residence.

The court first sentenced the accused woman to 8 years for “being a member of an illegal organization” then increased the sentence to 12 years, then reduced it to 10 years. The reason Nurşen Demir received such a harsh sentence was the “evidence” of her crimes which the prosecutor detailed as, “she cooks, she does cleaning and she heals.” The court, took these housework of cleaning, cooking or taking care of the sick as a valid proof of her so-called “terrorist crimes.”

The number of residents that received sentences rose to 36 in the case of “not abandoning their homes.” The standard charges levelled against Nurşen Demir have been used in nearly all cases against the Kurds. In this case, many residents received life sentences plus tens of years of prison terms. Those suspects who were minors were given “lighter” sentences of 35 years and 10 month due to being underage at the time. There are 6 children who received the 35 year “lightened” prison sentences.

Other people who had received sentences of life imprisonment had their sentences reduced to varying sentences between 11 years to 21 years.

Sendika.Org News (M.B.)