Turkey imposes curfews over 11 towns in Kurdish areas

[Anthea]

Turkey imposes curfews over eleven towns in Kurdish areas

Turkish security forces have imposed a curfew in eleven towns in the mainly Kurdish areas in the east of Turkey, an official said on Thursday (May 26).

Authorities in the province of Dersim (Tunceli) announced in a statement that the Turkish military has imposed a curfew for 15 days in the city of Dersim as well as in Nazimiye, Ovacik and several other areas.

According to the statement, the curfew is imposed to protect the lives of civilians in the areas due to operations against members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkish authorities imposed round-the-clock curfews in Midyat, Nusaybin and Pedasht in the province of Mardin on Wednesday to prevent people from entering and exiting the towns.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) called on Kurds in Turkey to resists and take up the struggle against the Turkish government as the military continues operations in predominately Kurdish areas against PKK members.

The KCK called on human rights associations such as the U.N. to stop watching “this dirty war” by the Turkish army.

The Turkish government has deployed military reinforcements as part of operations against the PKK in areas where tight security has been raised.

Turkey has imposed curfews in several cities in the southeast since August 2015 in an effort to root out the PKK. Hundreds have died since the PKK and the Turkish state resumed hostilities after the collapse of the ceasefire in July 2015.

Southeastern Turkey has plunged back into some of its worst violence since the 1990s after a two-year ceasefire between the PKK - designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union - and the state collapsed in July.

http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=8010