Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) has stated that at least 252 officially confirmed round-the-clock and open-ended curfews have violated the rights of 1,809,000 people in 11 provinces of dominantly Kurdish populated sourtheastern Turkey.
According to the statement based on data compiled by TİHV Documentation Center between August 16, 2015 and August 16, 2017, there has been at least 252 curfews in 11 cities and at least 45 districts in Turkey. The statement said that many fundamental rights including the right to live of the residents have been violated by Turkish government and Turkish security forces.
“It is estimated that, according to the 2014 population census, at least 1 million 809 thousand residents have been affected by these curfews and fundemental rights of these people such as right for security of person; right to privacy, family, home or correspondence; freedom of assembly and association; freedom of religion; freedom of receive and impart information; right to reserve of property; right to education and especially right to life; right to health and prohibition of torture are explicitly violated”.
TİHV stated that the last two curfews that are declared by Bitlis Governor’s Office on August 11, 2017 and Hakkâri Governor’s Office on August 13, 2017 have not been included in this data due to the fact that they define limits in scope of their declarations, on the contrary to the “round-the-clock and open-ended” curfews which they monitor.
Meanwhile, a curfew declared upon Cevatpaşa, Fatihpaşa, Dabanoğlu, Hasırlı, Cemal Yılmaz and Savaş neighborhoods in Diyarbakır Sur district on 28 November 2015 remains in effect for 1 year 8 months and 21 days. The curfew that began following the killing of Diyarbakır Bar Association chairman and human rights activits Tahir Elçi in front of the Foor-Footed Minaret is the longest one in the recent history.
In accordance with the urgent expropriation decree published on Official Gazette, an area of 6,300 plots have been expropriated in the historic district. One third of the district has been demolished during this period despite all the efforts made to stop the destruction in historical district. According to an Amnesty International report, around 40 thousand people have been displaced as a result of the all-out destruction of the district.
In addition to the houses of the people, the Turkish state has also demolished thousands of historical structures in the district, that include churches, mosques, mansions and hammams. However, thousands of inhabitants have still not left their homes in Sur.
