Turkey intensifies unseen war against Kurds

Close-up details of the sieges are scarce even in the Turkish press. Few Turkish journalists let alone foreign correspondents are covering what amounts in effect to war conditions in the affected towns. Other information comes from clandestine Kurdish sources and pictures coming not from the Turkish press but sent via the Internet showing ravaged buildings and bodies lying in the streets. According to a government statement on Dec. 25 217 Kurdish terrorists have been killed in the past month. The Turkish Human Rights foundation says that over 124 civilians have been killed in recent months. In total there have been about 150 days of “curfew” each of them lasting for the whole 24 hours not simply overnight.

The two worst-affected settlements are Sur the old city of Diyarbakir and Cizre a town close to the Tigris and Turkey's border with Iraq. Sur was designated a protected area of outstanding beauty before the shooting started. Now many of its historical buildings as well as schools and social centers have been burnt out: the government and the PKK each blame the other.

Cizre has been under a daily 24 hour curfew for more than two weeks this month and for at least 30 days into since September. Tanks took up positions around Cizre on Dec. 16 and have been shelling the city since then.

The government says that its aims are to punish PKK supporters in Cizre and other towns who began digging trenches in their streets a year ago suggesting to the government that preparations were being made for some kind of mass uprising. Thisand Kurdish calls for autonomy are now being cited as grounds for the curfews which have gained steadily in frequency and intensity since they began in the late summer apparently as police search and arrest operations.

December saw the sieges escalate with few if any breaks in the curfews and 10000 soldiers and tanks brought in to reinforce the police. Despite this resistance continues amid shattered streets which increasingly resemble war-torn Syrian towns. Most of the non-combatant population has left making at least 100000 internally displaced people. Before the final assault began on Cizre the government ordered teachers and government employees to leave the town.