All political activities, gatherings banned in Turkey’s Şırnak for 13 days

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Şırnak Province in Turkey a 13-day ban on all political activities and any gatherings beginning on Friday, officials from the province announced in a statement on Thursday.

The statement also clarified that only activities authorized by the governor will be permitted. The province's population of over 500,000, notably, is overwhelmingly Kurdish.

The ban has been imposed following the announcement made by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that it intends to organize marches in all regions of southeastern Turkey on Feb. 1, in support of its incarcerated leader and founder, Abdullah Ocalan.

Ocalan lived as a fugitive in Syria from 1979 to 1999, until his arrest in Kenya during an intelligence operation. He was later transferred to Ankara and is currently in prison on the island of Imrali.

He founded the PKK in 1978 and initially instituted Marxist values upon the organization, iconized on the party’s starred flag and insignias. The outlawed party, listed as a terror organization by the U.S., EU, and the eastern Turkic countries, among others, draws financial support from the Kurdish diaspora in Europe, much to the ire of Turkey.

In the nearly 50 year Turkey-PKK conflict, estimates range the death toll upwards of 40,000 people.

Throughout 2023, Turkey had stalled Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO by demanding the deportation of Kurdish fugitives in Europe believed to be part of the PKK apparatus.

Earlier in January, the U.S. approved a multi-billion dollar sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey after the Turks finally relented to the U.S., which signaled that it would veto the sale should the Sweden and Finland stalemate continue.

Editing by Dastan Muwaffaq