20/11/2015 | Writer: Kaos GL

KaosGL.org reporter Ateş Alpar photographed the remnants of Diyarbakır’s Silvan district, which throughout 12 days had been blockaded and was under military operation.

KaosGL.org reporter Ateş Alpar photographed the remnants of Diyarbakır’s Silvan district, which throughout 12 days had been blockaded and was under military operation.

Only backswept buildings, obliterated trees and devastated streets remained in Silvan, which throughout 12 days had been blockaded. Ultimately, on November 6, 2015, Rıdvan Us, who was severely injured by gunfire opened by a special operations team, died in the Diyarbakır Education and Research Hospital which had overseen his treatment. Including the death of Rıdvan Us, the death toll rose to eight during the sixth curfew; since the date that the first blockade was started, the death toll has grown to 16.

What had happened?

On November 3, 2015 it was announced by the Diyarbakır Governorship that curfews would be enforced in the Mescit, Tekel and Konak neighborhoods on the grounds of the closure of ditches which were opened in the Silvan district. It had been the sixth curfew which was announced in the last two months in Silvan. In the three neighborhoods where curfews had been announced, it was determined that Internet and phone lines along with water and electricity had been cut, people were unable to get food including bread and that because of the conflicts it had become uninhabitable in the relevant neighborhoods.

It was also learned that on November 10, 2015 a committee that HDP representatives Çağlar Demirel and Feleknas Uca founded had wanted to enter the Mescit neighborhood, in which a curfew had been implemented. However, permission was not given by security forces for their entry into the neighborhood.

According to the Turkey Human Rights Foundation Documentation Center’s November 17 report, with the death of Rıdvan Us, who had been injured, the death toll had risen to eight in the last blockade. 

Here are the photographs from Ateş Alpar’s lens:

*Translated into English by Daniel Metz.


Tags: human rights
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