Turkish curfew in Kurdish town on fifth day, as casualties rise

Merdin (K24) — Clashes between members of PKK-affiliated youth organisation and Turkish forces continued on Wednesday, in Nisebin district of Merdin province, as five civilians were wounded.

During clashes in the neighbourhood of Yeni Turan, 19-year-old Mehmet Aslan was wounded in his neck. In another incident, 42-year-old Fatma Kulat was fired on, and wounded in her arm, when she went out on her balcony on the fifth floor of her apartment. In another neighbourhood Halime Guner, 35, was wounded in her legs. Two other men, whose names were not available, were reportedly wounded. 

A pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party member of Turkish Parliament, Gulser Yildirim, herself in Yesilkent, one of the 15 neighbourhoods that are under curfew in the town, told K24 on the phone that there is no water or electricity. She also said Turkish forces are using "heavy weapons".

A citizen who did not give his name told K24 over the phone that they dare not "even open windows" because of snipers in the area.

In an incident on November 15, a pregnant mother of five children, 44-year-old Selamet Yesilmen, was killed and two of her children (10 and 14) were wounded in front of her house when they left their home in the morning.

The curfew imposed on November 13 by the governorate, in response to trenches dug inside the town by the PKK-affiliated Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, has caused shortages of food and water, internet and electricity are down, and the main international highway remains closed.

(Hesen Kako contributed to this report from Mardin)