While the Turkish army, following the orders of their commander in chief, carries on the armed aggression against Iraq and Syria, in Turkey itself authorities have launched an all-out offensive against the civil population of Kurdish regions. It won’t be an exaggeration to state that Erdogan is systematically exterminating Kurds throughout Turkey which constitutes an act of genocide. All across the major cities Kurdish activists are being routinely arrested and more than two hundred offices of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party have been burned to the ground.
The Turkish authorities have decided to suppress the Kurdish strive for independence with military power, which has already led to countless victims among the civilian population. But it doesn’t seem to stop there since Turkish media outlets are reporting that the government is buying tens of thousands of special equipment items designed to facilitate the fighting in urban areas, including sniper rifles, microwave radars that allow to find those seeking refuge behind walls, machine guns that allow the gunner to shoot around corners and 22 000 sets of helmets and body armor that provide enhanced protection for melee engagements. What this basically means is that Kurdish towns are going to be transformed into warzones.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has decided to turn a blind eye to the fact that raids in urban areas are usually result in a large number of those unable to protect themselves being decimated, including women, children, and elders. If reports from the Kurdish populated areas are to be believed – whole towns are on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.
But it seems that Erdogan couldn’t care less, since Kurdish settlements that are now being transformed into warzones are sealed for any politicians, journalists, or human rights defenders. Experts say that the total number of internally displaced persons has already exceeded one hundred thousand people.
If Sirnak Kurdish activists are “only” getting arrested and beaten in broad daylight, a massive extermination of the civil Kurdish population has been reported in the town of Cizre that is located some 20 kilometers from the Syrian-Turkish border. This name can sound familiar to observers since back in June 2015 85% of its population voted for the Peoples’ Democratic Party . Yet, Turkish officials are convinced that they are “only conducting a special operation.”
Recently Kurdish MP Feleknas Uca accused the government of brutal murder of 150 Kurdish civilians. She told journalists that in the area of Cizre families were burned alive in their homes only due to the fact that they were Kurds. Additionally, she reported that due to the aggressive actions of Turkish troops in the province of Diyarbakir 200 civilians were trapped in their basements. But regular forces didn’t allow anyone to come rescue them, since that province is also inhabited by Kurds. Yet another string of tragic events unfolded in the Kurdish town of Yüksekova.
Deputy Feleknas Udzha said in an interview with the German edition of Süddeutsche Zeitung, that the EU representatives must come to the south-east of Turkey, to see for themselves how genocidal Erdogan’s policies are.
Numerous video posted on social networks are showing that large caliber guns are beingused to level whole districts of the cities of Cizre, Diyarbakır and many others to the ground under the pretext that “Kurdish separatists” have allegedly been hiding there. However, these videos demonstrate that Turkish authorities are deliberately massacring civilians, including old men.
It’s impossible to tell the exact death toll in Cizre Yüksekova, Diyarbakır and other Kurdish cities due to extremely limited information that journalists are able to obtain. However, there is no doubt that among those killed there’s droves of civilians.
In response to the inhuman actions of the so-called elected authorities a wave of protests swept across Turkey. People have been demanding the end of the so-called “military operation” in Kurdish regions. The biggest protest occurred in Diyarbakir that has de facto became the unofficial Kurdish capital of Turkey. Peaceful demonstrations were rigidly suppressed by police units that employed water cannons and tear gas to disperse protestors. Similar clashes in south-eastern Turkey have been going on for over six months. People are leaving their homes in a hurry, streets are filled with tanks and armored vehicles. The clashes between the police and Kurdish resistance units never seem to stop.
Kurdish communities across the globe have urged the leading players to put an end to the genocide perpetrated by Turkey’s officials. Several hundreds of Kurdish activists gathered outside the UN office building in Iraqi Irbil demanding the international community to stop the ongoing destruction of the units of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, that is considered “a terrorist organization” in Turkey.
Turkish parliamentarians of Kurdish origin have made a formal appeal to the international community and the EU parliamentarians demanding to put an end to the oppression of their population.
Italian member of the European Parliament Laura Ferrara has been enraged by the fact that the EU is providing Turkey 3 billion euros, while it’s committing inhuman crimes against Kurds and she stated her position pretty loud and clear. However, it seems that the EU is so concerned with the recent migrant crisis that it pays little to no attention to outrageous examples of human rights violations in Turkey. The Telegraf notes that Angela Merkel is so concerned about Turkey’s ability to prevent refugees from coming to Europe that she doest have the stomach to say a word against genocidal policies of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
However, a senior official of the European Parliament – the President of the GUE / NGLGabi Zimmer urged the EU to condemn the ongoing genocide of Kurdish popultion in Turkey and punish those responsible for it. It’s curious that his position is shared by a number of European MPs.
Erdogan positions are getting weaker by the day. In addition, the Kurdish conflict is being exploited by the West just as well. However, the lack of any form of condamnation – that’s a truly disturbing fact. . The silence of the West and its satellite states in the Persian Gulf is clear – they would never accuse an ally that they rely on in the Syrian conflict of massive desimination of Kurds… And nobody cares that that by killing Kurds in drove Turkey is mimicking the crimes of their predecessors that were committed against Armenians before
However, any crime leads to punishment and the international community seems to be determined to bring it upon Erdogan’s head.