Kurdish town likened to Kobani as locals return to find bodies and gutted homes after Turkish army kills hundreds of militants

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Turkish security forces have eased a 24-hour curfew on the devastated southern-eastern town of Cizre, where since December troops backed by tanks have attempted to crush militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK.

The curfew will still hold from 7:30pm to 5am, but the reprieve on Wednesday allowed some residents to return to the town, where they found many of their homes obliterated. At least one body was still lying inside a ruined house.

The easing of the curfew comes three weeks after authorities declared the successful conclusion of military operations against the rebels on 11 February.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A girl looks at a dead body among the rubble of damaged buildings in Cizre. Photograph: Ilyas Akengin/AFP/Getty

The town of 132,000 near the banks of the Tigris river and the borders of Syria and Iraq has been the worst hit in terms of the scale of fighting and the casualty toll. The level of damage seen in some districts on Wednesday evoked the early days of the war in neighbouring Syria, with buildings gutted by shelling or partially collapsed.

The army says more than 600 Kurdish rebels were killed in Cizre. The militants, who want autonomy for Kurds, had raised barricades, dug trenches and planted explosives to protect areas where they had aspired for self-rule.

Human rights groups say 92 civilians were killed in the town during the military operation and another 171 bodies have been found since hostilities ended.



The first wave of residents returned to the town at dawn on Wednesday, their vehicles loaded with personal belongings and children. Police carefully inspected their documents as well as the contents of their cars and bags. What the returnees found shocked them.

Shell casings littered the streets of the Sur district, where residents found the corpse of an unidentified male. The stench of death also rose from a collapsed building in the same area. Residents said security forces had demolished the building’s basement, which was being used as a shelter.

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“Those who did this are not human,” said Şerif Ozem.

“What took place here is a second Kobani in a country that is supposed to be a democracy,” he said, referring to the predominantly Kurdish town in northern Syria that suffered a brutal siege by Islamic State.

Several shops and homes in Sur had their walls blasted open. Windows were shattered and doors unhinged, the smell of explosives still clinging to the breeze.

Curfews remain in the historic district of the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakır and in Idil, a district in Şırnak province, where Turkish forces are continuing operations against Kurdish militants.

Amnesty International says the curfews amount to “collective punishment”.

In Diyarbakır, a bomb went off prematurely, killing a suspected attacker and wounding four children, the governor’s office said. The man, who had links to the Kurdish rebels, is believed to have detonated the bomb accidentally on Monday.

In Cizre, Ayse Magi inspected the damage to her modest home with tears in her eyes. Two mortars had punctured the ceiling of her bathroom and the hallway. “There is no way we can live here,” she said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People carry their belongings from their ruined houses in Cizre. Photograph: Cagdas Erdogan/Getty Images

Shoe-shop owner Nesim Çavuşoğlu, who had stayed in the city during the curfew, despaired over the destroyed facade of his business. “This is all that is left,” he said, gesturing at the rubble and a handful of shoe boxes.

Graffiti in his district spelled out PKK and the initials of its female and male urban youth wings, YDG-H and YDGK-H. “Kurdistan” was scribbled on several storefronts and portraits of slain Kurdish female fighters adorned an alley.

Meanwhile, Ali Ihsan Su, the governor of Şırnak province, warned returning Cizre residents to beware of possible undetected explosive devices in their homes. Three large booms were heard in the morning, which police said were controlled explosions to clear booby traps.

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Blaming the militants for the destruction of the town, the governor said 708 barricades had been dismantled, 264 trenches filled and 1,409 explosives disposed of. Security forces also seized automatic weapons, other firearms and hand grenades.

“They destroyed houses by placing explosives from the kitchens to the bedrooms. They attacked callously and mercilessly, without distinguishing between military, police, women, men, old or young,” the governor said.

The government says more than 300 members of the security forces have died fighting Kurdish rebels since July.

Police said the curfew could not be lifted immediately after the military operations ended because troops had to clear leftover explosives.

Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey’s prime minister, has promised to reconstruct Cizre and other districts ruined by the fighting.

The PKK, considered a terror group by Turkey and its allies, has been waging an insurgency in south-eastern Turkey since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then. A fragile two-year-old peace process with the rebels broke down in July.

Nurettin Güler, a 55-year-old who stayed in Cizre during the worst of the fighting, was pessimistic about the next phase.

“They say the operations have ended but we just don’t know. If peace isn’t achieved ... it’s not over.”