Wrong policy in place in curfew-hit southeastern town, HDP co-chair says

ŞIRNAK

CİHAN photo

A delegation from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), including its co-chair and deputies, who were denied entry into the southeastern town of Cizre, where the citizens have been living under a curfew for eight days, returned to neighboring Diyarbakır on Sept. 11 after holding their party group meeting there. 

HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş addressed his party’s group meeting in the İdil district of the eastern province of Şırnak, where the delegation spent the night on Sept. 10 after security forces stopped their march to Cizre.

The delegation departed from southeastern Diyarbakır to Cizre at around 11 a.m. on Sept. 9 and managed to reach İdil, where they waited for about four hours. However, they were unable to enter Cizre, as they were turned back by police and gendarmerie forces at around 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 10.

Speaking at his party’s meeting in İdil on Sept. 11, Demirtaş said the policy being implemented in Cizre was wrong and amassing soldiers and police officers would not change anything in the town.

“A wrong policy is ongoing [in Cizre]. [The government] thinks deploying a large numbers of soldiers and police officers will make a difference [in Cizre],” Demirtaş said.

Demirtaş said the anti-riot operations in the district would backfire as propaganda in favor of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“If I were a prosecutor I would launch an investigation into supporting the PKK by anti-riot security forces who insulted people using loud speakers,” Demirtaş said.

Demirtaş also said both the PKK and the Turkish Republic would hold their stances even if the ongoing violence lasted for 100 years, leaving the negotiations to the young people of the future.