Ancient heart of Turkey's biggest Kurdish city ripped up

*As published on Ahvalnews on 05.12.2017

https://ahvalnews.com/sur/ancient-heart-turkeys-biggest-kurdish-city-ripped

The world’s longest 24-hour curfew continues in my hometown.

The curfew that began in six districts of Diyarbakır’s ancient Sur neighbourhood has gone on for two years now. These six districts make up 75 hectares of Sur’s total 148 hectares, that is, about half of Sur.

The curfews started in August 2015 and lasted for just a few days at first, then sometimes for a week or 10 days. They became permanent days after the murder in the city of human rights lawyer Tahir Elçi. On Dec. 2, 2015, the sixth curfew notice was issued. Nine days later, on Dec. 11, 2015, the curfew was lifted for 17 hours, but has been in effect around the clock since then.

With the curfew, the fighting started. From Dec. 2, 2015 until March 10, 2016, Sur was under attack for a full 100 days. People in Sur were dying, and 7,000 years of history was being destroyed. Outside Sur, between the sounds of explosions, life continued in a half-dead way. Inside the ancient heart of the city, dozens of people died, many more were wounded.

Today, the exact number of dead and wounded is still not known. After the end of the operation, when it was still possible to repair Sur’s streets, homes, and neighbourhoods, the government decided to tear it all down instead. The demolition started in March 2016.

Is Şırnak one of the 81 cities of Turkey?

Is Şırnak one of the 81 cities of Turkey?

I am in Şırnak, one of the Kurdish cities that was under curfew for 8 months, between 14 March-14 November 2016 . 70% of the city has been totally destroyed. 8 of the city’s 12 districts do not exist anymore. The streets that I walked on before, the parks, the main square of the city, Cumhuriyet Meydanı, where I met together with the Şırnaqi youth years before, none of them exit. There are no streets left. One of the biggest districts, Bahçelievler, with a population of 12.000 has now been flattened. It is hard to believe that there were houses, shops, parks, schools and life before. It is hard for me to believe that I am in Şırnak.

There has been huge destruction in other Kurdish cities; in Cizre, Nusaybin, Yüksekova and Sur as well. None of them are like Şırnak.  Think about a city, that no longer has a city center!

Curfews in Turkish Kurdistan

Curfews in Turkish Kurdistan

It was last January. I was in Brussels for a European Parliament meeting. A European journalist asked me about the curfews in Turkish Kurdistan. He told me that there were also curfews in Paris after the ISIS attack. He did not understand why Kurdish people were so angry about the curfews.

At that time, I understood that the word “curfew” does not fit our curfew experience in Turkey. Let me tell you what curfew means in Kurdistan.

When are we going to raise our voices, if not now?

WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN DİYARBAKIR’S SUR DISTRICT SINCE FEBRUARY 4, 2016? When are we going to raise our voices, if not now?

15. Apr. 2016

von

Filiz Karahasanoğlu

February, 3rd, 2016. After the ban which lasted for several weeks in 9 neighborhoods of Sur was lifted for a few hours, some families used the opportunity to return to their homes while others packed for leave.. Urheber: Aylin Kızıl / NarPhotos. All rights reserved.

A participant and moderator at the Kurdish Conference held in European Parliament during January 26-27, 2016, Nurcan Baysal is a first-hand witness to what has been happening regarding the relentless violation of rights following the curfew that was declared in Diyarbakır’s Sur district.  We would like to bring Baysal’s testimony to your attention.

Behind the closed doors of Cizre

Behind the closed doors of Cizre

I am among the destruction of Cizre. A youngster from Cizre came to me and said “Dear Nurcan, all you see is what you  can see about Cizre, but there is something worse than this about what you can't see or despite seeing it, not to writing about Cizre. We want to show you this part.”

I leave my group and follow this youngster.We go to a 5-storey building at the head of Cudi district. The building seems to me in a good condition at first look. There is no destruction. Türk Street is written by the entrance door. Just under it, another inscription can be read: “one of us dies, but a thousand of us awaken”.

Entering the building needs some effort. All the things; chickens and vegetables under the building stank. A construction vehicle were struggling to clean out the trash. We entered the building under a strong stinky smell.

Inside of the building,which has two apartments on each floor, was a complete wreckage. It was not easy to step into the apartments from the stairs. We walk on the ruins, broken windows and trash. All the entrance doors of the apartments were blown up with a blaster. All the apartments were destroyed. Such a destruction that is impossible to restore.

Apart from us, in the building, there are people working in municipality and non-governmental organizations were trying to assess the cost of the damage.

Special forces  used these apartments during the military curfew. We entered one of these apartments.

In the apartment, there are women’s underwears on the ground of the bedroom.

"East issue”of Turkey begins now, actually!

"East issue”of Turkey begins now, actually!

The atrocity in Cizre, we have watched live day by day, lasts almost more than a month. Today, about more than a hundred people from Cizre, most of them less than 20 years old and who were alive one or two weeks ago are dead now. People who were wounded only for one or two weeks agoand asked us for a glass of water are not with us now. These people died gradually. They were tormented, they had to witness the death of who were with them, they lived dead and wounded together, and they were tortured to death, burned as they were without water, and starved.

And these people massacred by having us to watch each step. Apparently, they want to test our silence. And our silence is approved with Cizre. In this way, we used to watch and wait bigger massacres.

With this massacre, they also causean information pollution delibaretly. Adherent media of rulling party promotes this info pollution, and this situation lead to a confusion about what really is happening in Cizre.

Therefore we should review the developments in Cizre:

Can the Kurdish question be settled by killing people in Sur?

Can the Kurdish question be settled by killing people in Sur?

We are in Surici district with Lale Mansur, Zeynep Tanbay, Ferhat Tunc, Aysegul Devecioglu, Bahri Belen and Dilek Gokçin who came from Istanbul today. We meet Sibel Yigitalp, the HDP Diyarbakir deputy who is on constant watch in Sur. Ms. Yigitalp is able to talk with the families inside from time to time. A heavy bombardment is going on. Small particles drop to where we stand.  

We listen to the phone conversations with the people in the basements. Remziye talks: