Announcements made to evacuate civilians in Yüksekova

HAKKARİ – Doğan News Agency

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Police and security forces made announcements on March 18 addressing those who want to leave their houses in the southeastern province of Hakkari’s Yüksekova district, as security operations against outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants continue in the area.

Announcements were made from armored vehicles on March 17 and March 18, asking the residents who wanted to leave their houses to call the “police emergency line 155,” as they will be provided with support during their evacuations. 

The district has been under curfew since March 13, when security forces initiated an all-out operation to fill trenches and knock down barricades set up by PKK militants.

Meanwhile, security forces intensified their operations in the Orman, Kışla, Kaniheyder, Cumhuriyet and Güngör neighborhoods of Yüksekova in order to clear the barricades and ditches, as soldiers were deployed to key points around the town by helicopters. 

As a new wave of operations was initiated against PKK militants in Yüksekova along with the southeastern province of Mardin’s Nusaybin district, operations in other parts of southeastern districts were reaching an end with officials announcing the lifting of curfews. 

The local governor’s office in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır’s Sur district announced on March 16 that the curfew in some six streets of the Savaş and Dabanoğlu neighborhoods in the historic district had been lifted.