TİHV: At Least 79 Civilians Killed in 29 Days

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Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) has declared human rights violations against civilian killings during curfews imposed between the dates of December 11, 2015 – January 8, 2016.

According to data of TİHV Documentation Center, at least 79 civilians including 14 children were killed within 29 days.

TİHV’s statement is as folloıws:

“As of August 16, 2015, at least 58 official indefinite curfews have taken place in 19 districts of notably Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Mardin, and Hakkari, Muş, Elazığ, and Batman.

“Rights of at least 1,377,000 people affected by this ban have been violated.

“162 civilians (29 women, 32 children, 24 people above 60 years old) lost their times just in periods of curfews”.

Extent of areas where curfews imposed, the way how the curfews are being practiced, open-ended military and police deployment into these regions and hardening speeches of government and state demonstrate that a different period started as of December 11, 2015.

During the curfews which are still ongoing declared on December 11, 2015, 79 civilians killed in 29 days.

Of those who were killed, 14 are children, one was shot to death in mother’s womb, 18 are women and 15 are above 60.

At least 22 people were killed as they were within the borders of their own houses resulted by the shooting or artillery shootings fired by tanks or health problems caused directly by environment created through curfews, according to testimonies of eyewitnesses.

Furthermore, four people were killed during demonstrations or by arbitrary shootings of security forces in regions which were not under curfew or no operation launched into. These people are Şerdıl Cengiz in Sur district of Diyarbakır, Şiyar Salman and Şiyar Baran in Diyarbakır’s Nusaybin”. (AS/TK)

* Even though it is not officially reported, as many as 10,000 security forces are deployed in each districts under curfew (Sur, Cizre, Silopi), according to reports released in national media organs. It is known in the same way that hundreds of military armored vehicles which are used only under heavy military circumstances have been deployed in those districts.