Turkish government forces have surrounded the town of Cizre as the town enters 20th day under military siege. Turkish soldiers are forcing their way into Kurdish homes and forcing people to leave. Heavy artillery shelling escalated yesterday afternoon against the residential areas as new military reinforcements arrive in the region. Dicle News Agency reports the […]
Turkish government forces have surrounded the town of Cizre as the town enters 20th day under military siege. Turkish soldiers are forcing their way into Kurdish homes and forcing people to leave. Heavy artillery shelling escalated yesterday afternoon against the residential areas as new military reinforcements arrive in the region.
Dicle News Agency reports the escalation of aggression against the Kurdish population in Cizre yesterday (January 2, 2016) afternoon.
Neighborhoods in Cizre have been surrounded by tanks and armored vehicles and artillery shelling of the town residents is continuing. The police and military attacks against homes follow the initial machine gun fire from the police vehicles. However the Civil Defense Units (YPS) formed by the Kurdish people are resisting the military attacks in some neighborhoods. Kurdish youth and residents have joined forces to defend their communities, families and towns against this Turkish government aggression under the name Civil Defense Units.
In Nur neighborhood Turkish soldiers are entering homes, converting them to military stations and forcing the residents to leave. People pushed out of their homes are forced to emigrate by the Turkish forces. A similar forced evacuation of millions of Kurds had happened in 1990’s when the Turkish state terror against its Kurdish population emptied out entire regions which had dire consequences for the country. While the agriculture and animal husbandry in the entire country collapsed, millions of Kurds had do leave to the larger cities in the west enduring unspeakable hardship. There is a fear that the Turkish government is now repeating this devastating policy of the 1990’s again to get an upper hand and hide its policy failures in the Middle East.
Military and police have entered the Yafes and Cudi neighborhoods as of January 2 however they are confronted by the YPS Civil Defense Units in street by street battles.
No information on how many civilians have been killed or injured by the Turkish forces is available since there is a complete news blackout. Many journalists, reporters and cameraman working for independent news organizations have been detained or arrested for attempting to report on the carnage in the Kurdish towns.
Sendika.Org News (Mehmet Bayram)
