Two people killed in clashes in Turkey’s southeast district, says HDP deputy

Şehriban Oğhan, Bülent Sarıoğlu, Doğan News Agency - ŞIRNAK/DİYARBAKIR

DHA photo

A Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy, who entered Turkey’s southeastern province of Şırnak’s Cizre district, where a curfew has been in place since Sept. 4, said two young people were killed in clashes with security forces, while the damages of the clashes in Diyarbakır’s Sur district following the lift of a day-long curfew have been revealed. 

HDP deputy Nursel Aydoğan, who entered Cizre along with fellow HDP deputies Leyla Birlik and Faysal Sarıyıldız, said two people were killed in clashes, adding that the killed were left on the street for hours.

“Two young people have lost their lives in clashes. The youth, who was shot in the Nur neighborhood, was left on the street for hours. Police did not come and pick him up,” Aydoğan said regarding the latest situation in Cizre. 

Adding that some women carried the young person to the mosque by dragging the body, Aydoğan said snipers targeted the women, who barely made it to the mosque. 

Aydoğan added that as there was no morgue in the mosque and taking into consideration the heath of the city, the situation of the body was critical. 

The HDP deputy said police were inside armored vehicles in Cizre and could not walk around freely, adding that electricity was cut off at 10.00 p.m. and did not return until the morning. 

Meanwhile, the details of the curfew, which had taken effect at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 6 in the Sur district of Diyarbakır were revealed with the lifting of the curfew at 6 a.m. on Sept. 7. 

The Diyarbakır governorate announced early Sept. 6 that a curfew had been declared in Sur until further notice to conduct operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and to cover up the ditches the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK, had dug. 

The curfew was lifted as the neighborhood had a calm night, a statement issued by the Diyarbakır governorate stated, adding that multiple people had been detained in operations. 

The Armenian Church of Surp Giragos was also damaged due to the detonation of a bomb nearby, allegedly implemented by the PKK. The window of the church, which had undergone restoration in 2011 after being unused for many years, shattered due to the bomb. 

Two police officers were killed, with eight others and three civilians wounded, in two separate attacks on Sept. 6 in Diyarbakır.