Turkey declares new curfew in 13 Kurdish villages

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Turkish authorities in the Kurdish province of Diyarbakir on Friday announced an indefinite curfew in 13 villages on the grounds of fighting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas.

Turkey has repeatedly imposed round-the-clock curfews in dozens of Kurdish cities and villages since August 2015 in an effort to dislodge PKK fighters from population centers and rural areas.

According to a statement released on the website of Diyarbakir governor's office, the curfew includes eight villages in Lice, three in Hani and two in Karaz districts.

The statement co-signed by the regional Turkish Gendarmerie Command warned civilians in the villages under curfew to stay indoors at all times for "the safety of their own life and property," citing a military operation against the PKK that began in mountainous and forest areas.

The renewed fighting and surge in violence since mid-2015 between Turkish forces and the PKK after the collapse of a two years ceasefire and peace negotiations has killed hundreds of civilians, Kurdish fighters, and Turkish soldiers.

Kurdish fighters and politicians alike have been demanding self-governance in the areas fightings broke out.

Whole towns, including Sur, Cizre, Silopi, Nusaybin, Farqin and Gever, were left to rubble and more than 350 thousand people were displaced as a result of heavy Turkish shelling and fierce clashes with the Kurdish fighters, according to a March 2015 report of Human Rights Foundation of Turkey.

This week, a curfew in the city of Sirnak has entered 180th day or almost six months.

In the month of August despite a decrease in the level of violence due to a PKK defeat in urban areas, Turkey continued to impose curfews in scores of villages and conducted military operations in rural areas in pursuit of Kurdish guerrillas.

Editing by Ava Homa
(Reporting by Ari Khalidi)