Life stands still in central Diyarbakır amid clashes in suburbs

Özgür Korkmaz - DİYARBAKIR

DHA photo

Life in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır stood still on Aug. 26 after a call to protest recent security operations in two districts of Diyarbakır province.

The call by the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the sister organization of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said the situation in the districts of Lice and Silvan, where security operations and a curfew were in place, was “unacceptable.” 

“We ask our people to bring life in Diyarbakır to a halt to raise our voice against attacks targeting civilians,” DBP provincial co-chair Hafize İpek said in a written statement on Aug. 25.

The majority of shop owners in Diyarbakır followed the call and kept their shops closed. Public buses run by the municipality were also not working, while there were notably few minibuses and taxis on Diyarbakır’s uncharacteristically quiet streets. 

“This is the least I can do to show solidarity with the people in Silvan and Lice,” said one shop owner sitting in front of his closed grocery.

A rally was planned in central Diyarbakır for later in the day.