Nusaybin Kuruköy'de gözaltına alındıktan sonra işkence gördüğü bildirilen Abdi Aykut'un durumu ile ilgili işlem yapacak mısınız?@TC_Basbakan pic.twitter.com/WnWlGMIiFT — Sezgin Tanrıkulu (@MSTanrikulu) 22 février 2017 "Mr Prime Minister, are you going to intervene on behalf of Abdi Aykut? It was reported that he was tortured after being arrested in Nusaybin Kuruköy", tweeted opposition deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu

Cut off from the world for 19 days

This home in Koruköy lies in ruins. Photo published on Twitter on March 2, 2017.

Koruköy is located in between Mardin and Nusaybin. It is about 20 kilometres from the Syrian border. (This image is a screen grab from satellite images published on the website Zoom earth)



The police prefecture in Mardin province (which includes Koruköy) claims that this rural village is used as a rear base for the PKK (The Kurdistan Workers Party), which is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.



published at the end of the curfew, the police prefecture claimed that some villagers had allowed Kurdish combatants to store arms and munitions in their basements. In the same press release, the police thanked residents for their “cooperation”.



The police prefecture in Mardin province (which includes Koruköy) claims that this rural village is used as a rear base for the PKK (The Kurdistan Workers Party), which is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. In a press release published at the end of the curfew, the police prefecture claimed that some villagers had allowed Kurdish combatants to store arms and munitions in their basements. In the same press release, the police thanked residents for their “cooperation”.

Animals starved to death





The curfew wasn’t lifted until March 2. A group of local deputies — who were part of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish party that carried out several protests against the curfew — documented the destruction in the village and shared the photos on Twitter.



The carcases of goats lie frozen on the ground in Koruköy. Photo published on March 2, 2017 on Twitter



This cow carcass lies in a stable in Koruköy. Photo posted on March 2, 2017 on Twitter

The walls of this home are scarred by bullets. This photo was published on Twitter .







An old woman in a room riddled with bullet holes in Koruköy. Photo posted on Twitter on March 2, 2017.





Cartridges and tear gas canisters litter the ground in Koruköy. Photo posted on March 2, 2017 on Twitter .

From February 11 to March 2, people living in the village of Koruköy (called Xerabê Bava in Kurdish) claim they were forbidden from leaving their homes by the Turkish army. Among the allegations that have emerged include: soldiers arresting village residents, including the 71-year-old village chief, and the bulldozing of several homes. Being unable to care for their animals, the villagers lost much of their livestock, which starved to death.The local Kurdish press published numerous accounts of locals who said soldiers had assassinated several residents and tortured others.Abdi Aykut, a resident of Koruköy, claimed that he was tortured by the soldiers who occupied his village. His photo was first posted online on February 22. According to his lawyer, Aykut was taken to a hospital located outside of the village for treatment before being arrested on March 3.While the landlines in the village were all cut during the reported occupation, some local residents were able to use cell phones to alert people outside about what was happening. In these phone calls, residents said that soldiers had arbitrarily beaten both teenagers and the elderly in the streets. They also claimed that the army had also cut off electricity as well as prevented ill people from going to see a doctor.These deputies shared a large number of photos of frozen animal carcasses, claiming that the army had prevented people from caring for their animals. Denied food and water, few of these animals survived.Since the end of the curfew, several local journalists have been able to travel to Koruköy, who state that numerous houses had also been burned or demolished.Some of the homes left standing are now riddled with bullet holes. Used cartridges and empty tear gas canisters litter the streets of the village.The Turkish government willingly targets civilians, local deputies, and associations from majority Kurdish regions in its war against PKK combatants, which began again in 2015 after the end of a long truce. Ten HDP deputies, who were accused of being close to the PKK, are still in prison . One of them is Selahattin Demirtas, the co-president of the party. UN report on the human rights situation in southeastern Turkey published in February 2017 denounced “numerous cases of excessive use of force; killings; enforced disappearances; torture; destruction of housing and cultural heritage; incitement to hatred; prevention of access to emergency medical care, food, water and livelihoods; violence against women; and severe curtailment of the right to freedom of opinion and expression as well as political participation”, which had been taking place in the region since 2015. According to the authors of the report, “the most serious human rights violations reportedly occurred during periods of curfew, when entire residential areas were cut off and movement restricted around-the-clock for several days at a time.”Note: the Observers are unable to independently verify the information presented here.