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Turks block evacuations from Cizre
CIZRE – Amid increasing civilian casualties in the Kurdish town of Cizre in southeastern Turkey, the authorities prevented on Sunday the evacuation of people stranded in the war-torn town. At least 20 civilians were injured Sunday in renewed bombardment by the Turkish army in Cizre. “Some of the wounded are in critical conditions, but the authorities prevented us from transferring them to another town for treatment,” local civil rights activist Sedad Ciziri told ARA News in Cizre. Cizre, located in the southeastern province of Şırnak, has been under army siege for nearly two months, while a 24-hour curfew has been imposed by the authorities. The artillery shelling by the army forces repeatedly hit residential neighborhoods in the town, causing the death of at least 60 civilians and the injury of dozens more over the last few weeks. This comes amid intensified shelling and bombardment in Kurdish towns and villages in Şırnak and Diyarbakir at the hands of the Turkish troops. Civilian Casualties in War on PKK? Although the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims its military campaign on the Kurdish region is aimed at combatting rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), monitoring groups and human rights activists accused the army of targeting civilians. “Under the pretext of combatting PKK members, the Turkish authorities are bombing infrastructures and residential neighborhoods across Şırnak and Diyarbakir,” said Hoshin Ebdullah, a Kurdish lawyer and human rights activist. He added that civilians stranded in Kurdish areas under the ongoing military campaign suffer a sharp shortage of food and medicines, beside constant cut of electricity and water. “Dozens of civilians have been killed, hundreds injured and tens of thousands displaced due to the brutal operations by the Turkish forces southeastern the country,” Ebdullah told ARA News. “More than 100,000 displaced people have been documented in two months, while many others remain stranded in war-torn towns and villages in the Kurdish region.” Speaking to ARA News in the war-torn town of Cizre in Şırnak province, civil rights activist Ehmed Hokenek said: “The Turkish army avoids mentioning the civilian casualties in its brutal campaign against the Kurdish region.” “We hope that the international community would ever take action and stop this brutal military campaign against the Kurds in Turkey,” he said. Posted by: badanov 2016-02-01 |
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