Development minister visits clash-stricken Silopi

SİLOPİ

DHA Photo

Turkey’s development minister has paid a visit to the southeastern town of Silopi, which has seen severe damage during recent clashes between security forces and outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had stated in a surprise visit to the town on March 4 that Development Minister Cevdet Yılmaz would meet with local officials in Silopi, a district in the southeastern province of Şırnak, on March 11 as part of a “healing process.” 

“I hope we will heal the wounds in a short time. We will create an environment that will be more peaceful than ever before,” Yılmaz said on March 7 during his visit to Cizre, another town in Şırnak that has seen months-long clashes.

Meanwhile, the state-run Anadolu Agency said Turkish security forces captured a member of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian offshoot of the PKK that the Turkish administration considers as a terrorist group, in the southeastern province of Kilis on March 11. 

The suspect was apprehended during security checks along the Turkish border while trying to cross from the PYD-controlled Syrian town of Afrin to Turkey.        

The captured suspect reportedly said he was on his way to help PKK militants in Mardin’s Nusaybin district.