Locals flee Nusaybin amid fear of fresh clashes
MARDİN – Doğan News Agency
CİHAN photo
Locals from the southeastern town of Nusaybin have started to flee their homes after Turkey’s interior minister signaled last week that operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) would expand to the town.A curfew has been enforced in Nusaybin, located in Mardin province on the border with Syria, on six separate occasions in recent months.
On Feb. 9, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said operations would intensify in Nusaybin and in the İdil district of Şırnak province. After his statement around 100 people in Nusaybin left their homes, carrying their belongings on small trucks or carriages out of the neighborhoods where supporters of the PKK have already dug ditches and installed barricades.
Most of the locals living in these neighborhoods are moving to the homes of relatives living in relatively secure neighborhoods in the town, while those who have no relatives nearby are moving to neighboring districts or provinces.