Turkey partly lifts Diyarbakir curfew

On Wednesday, Turkish authorities lifted a curfew order in nine neighborhoods of the central Sur district of the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (K24) - On Wednesday, Turkish authorities lifted a curfew order in nine neighborhoods of the central Sur district of the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir.

A K24 correspondent in Diyarbakir reported that some displaced families went back to their homes after the curfew was lifted.

He added that despite the new ruling, he did not expect that life would turn to normal in the historic district which is now devastated because of fierce clashes between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) affiliates.

The sub-governorate of the Sur announced on its website that the curfew remained in place in the other six neighborhoods of Sur where clashes continue for the sixty-third day.

The decision to partly lift the curfew came a day after an earlier announcement that extended the curfew to the whole district.

Turkish forces are battling a new, armed youth formation of the PKK, called "Civilian Protection Units," abbreviated as YPS in Kurdish.

Two Turkish sergeants and one police officer were killed in clashes in the area, reported K24 Diyarbakir. A statement on the General Staff of the Turkish Army confirmed the death of two of its soldiers, as well as the wounding of two more.

On Monday, five Turkish soldiers were killed in a PKK attack in Sur. Kurdish Firat News Agency claimed on Tuesday that 15 Turkish soldiers and police officers were killed.

Meanwhile, in Mardin province, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas called on the Turkish government to communicate with the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to find a resolution for the conflict.

Demirtas was visiting a group of people in the town of Nusaybin (Nisebin) who intended to go to the curfew-hit town of Cizre in Sirnak Province where more than 20 people have been trapped in a basement amid continuing clashes.


Editing by Ava Homa
(Hesen Kako and Siddiq Eren contributed to this report from Diyarbakir)