70,000 buildings to replace ones destroyed by terror in Turkey's southeast: Minister

Gizem Karakış - ANKARA

AFP photo

Ongoing reconstruction of buildings in Turkey’s terror-stricken southeastern region is planned to be finished within the next six months, Environment and Urbanization Minister Mehmet Özhaseki said on Sept. 6.In a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) meeting in Ankara, Özhaseki said a total of 70,000 dwellings and workplaces - 27,000 heavily damaged or completely razed and 43,000 damaged relatively less - in seven districts were damaged due to terror in the region.Özhaseki said reconstruction works in the Diyarbakır province’s Sur district, the Mardin province’s Nusaybin district, the Şırnak province’s Cizre, Silopi, İdil and central districts, and the Hakkari province’s Yüksekova district were currently being carried out and the reconstructed buildings were slated to be handed over to their owners in the next six months.Areas in the region had been declared “risky” by a decision made by the cabinet, Özhaseki noted.He added that 2.6 billion Turkish Liras have so far been spent on the maintenance works of buildings less damaged, the demolition of heavily damaged buildings, the compensation of damages incurred by locals for their belongings, infrastructure works, and newly constructed buildings.Özhaseki said the newly reconstructed or completely remade dwellings were already started being handed over to their owners. “Apart from the area called Suriçi in Diyarbakır’s Sur, all of the deliveries are scheduled to be finished within the next six months,” he added.Turkey’s southeastern region has been a scene of heavy clashes between the Turkish military and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after a truce to end the decades-long war failed in 2015.Meanwhile, the Şırnak Governor’s Office said in a statement that attack helicopters were sent to an area where an unmanned air vehicle located five PKK militants in the Güçlükonak district in the early hours of Sept. 8.Turkish air forces killed four of the five militants during the ongoing operation, the statement said.In a separate incident, the house of the mayor of Durankaya town in Hakkari was attacked by PKK militants on Sept. 7, Doğan News Agency reported. No one was injured.Security forces launched an extensive operation in the area to capture the PKK militants.