Three women, one soldier killed in Turkey’s southeast

ŞIRNAK

AA Photo

The southeastern province of Şırnak continued to roiled by violence on Jan. 6, with one soldier and three women killed in separate incidents in two districts under military curfew.

A special operations sergeant was killed on the morning of Jan. 5 in front of his home in Şırnak city by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, Doğan News Agency reported. 

Specialized sergeant Ramazan Emet, 27, was wearing plainclothes when the incident took place.
He was attacked in front of his home in the Bahçelievler district of the city before succumbing to his injuries at the Şırnak State Hospital.

Meanwhile, a group of people marched against the killing of three female campaigners in Silopi, another curfew-hit town in Şırnak, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said three of its female campaigners and another as-yet-unidentified man had been shot and badly wounded in Silopi late on Jan. 4, accusing the authorities of failing to evacuate them despite pleas. All four died.

“These three women and the man were shot on Monday in the evening. They called to say ‘We are wounded and losing blood, so get us out of here,’” HDP Şırnak deputy Leyla Birlik said.

“The HDP asked the authorities to evacuate them [from Silopi] but got no response,” she added. 

The HDP identified the three women as Seve Demir, Pakize Nayır and Fatma Uyar. The man has not been identified because his face was badly disfigured, it stated. 

There was no immediate comment on the incident from the authorities. 

“The targeting of three women in the vanguard of the resistance was not a coincidence. They targeted the freedom struggle of all women,” HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ said in a party statement.

Silopi has been under curfew since Dec. 14, 2015 as the Turkish armed forces continue to wage a major military campaign against urban-based PKK militants.