Turkey- Silopi residents face ruins as they return after 36 day curfew

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Residents of the southeastern district of Silopi who were forced to flee their homes during a 36-day curfew imposed to conduct military operations have faced ruined homes amid a general scene of desolation.

“We couldn’t even get water because we were afraid of the sounds of rockets and weapons. We suffered a lot” Silopi resident Mehmet imek told Agence France-Presse. imek said he was able to stay in his house for only 14 days.

“We have 10 children and we covered their ears with cotton swabs fearing their ears would explode” imek said. “I hope no one suffers like us.”

The blanket curfew in Silopi a town of 80000 in the southeastern province of rnak was imposed on Dec. 14 last year.

The curfew was lifted during daylight hours on Jan. 20 allowing residents to come to terms with the scale of the destruction that has resulted from the state’s military operations against what that state says are outlawedKurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK).

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that the Environment and Urban Planning Ministry would dispatch a committee of officials to assess the damage incurred during the siege and prepare a draft to repair the destruction accordingly.

Silopi’s curfew remains in place between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m.

“We stayed in our house. Some left some didn’t. We stayed for 12 days” AFP quoted Feyruze Buluttekin as saying.

Buluttekin a woman residing in Silopi reportedly lamented the piteous state of her home with its balcony collapsed in several places its windows smashed and its floor ripped apart.

Doan News Agency reported that a large number of residents who returned to their ruined homes in the southeastern town were making a tremendous effort to repair the damages they faced after the curfew was partially lifted.

“We want to live in the same homeland together” a resident told Doan News Agency speaking with an earnest desire for an end to clashes between military personnel andPKKmilitants.

“This has been our place of study... But it was destroyed” said Hacera Kaplan a high school student living in Silopi’s Barbaros neighborhood whose family home was destroyed during clashes with militants. Kaplan said she wanted to take the first of the two nationwide exams in Turkish students have to take in April to enroll in colleges.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that Turkish Education Ministry sent a written statement to the governor’s offices in the southeastern provinces of rnakDiyarbakrand Mardin in which several districts have been subjected to round-the-clock curfews and halts in education saying necessary amendments would be made regarding make-up classes for students living in the towns.

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirta meanwhile said a committee of 15 people including a deputy from his party were stuck in a basement floor of a building as they went to rnak’s Cizre district to take civilians whom he says were wounded in clashes.

“A committee of 15 people including rnak deputy [Faysal] Saryldz who went to Cizre to take the wounded out of the town was subjected to gunfire. Ten people were wounded. They are now stuck in a basement with the wounded suffering hemorrhages” Demirta said speaking in parliament on Jan. 20.

One of those injured was MC TVjournalistRefik Tekin who received a gunshot wound to the leg. Because ambulances were not permitted to arrive on the scene a hearse was reportedly used to transport the injured to hospital.