Whole Hamlet Detained in Gendarmerie Raid in Siirt

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Gendarmerie raided the Erguvan / Bêlekê hamlet in Çeltikbaşı village in the predominantly Kurdish province of Siirt in southeastern Turkey yesterday (December 12) evening and took 13 people who were in the hamlet at that moment into custody.

As part of the same operation carried out yesterday, many villagers from Çeltikbaşı who are currently living in Cudi neighbourhood in the predominantly Kurdish province of Batman, were taken into custody in house raids as well.

According to Mezopotamya News Agency, many houses in the Erguvan / Bêlekê hamlet located between the provinces of Siirt and Batman in southeastern Turkey, were empty because of the current winter conditions. Most of the residents of the hamlet who worked in farms, spend the summer in the hamlet and the winter in their houses in city centers of Siirt and Batman provinces. Stating that there was only one road leading to the hamlet, the residents of the village said that the land road nearest to the village was 20 km away.

In the raids, Halil Vural, Ahmet Vural, Hasan Hüseyin Vural, Azedin Vural, Dikran Vural, Ramazan Vural, Hasan Vural, İzzet Yoksu, Ebedin Özne, Aledin Özne, Çelik Ata, Şemsettin Balık and Vasfettin Koç were taken into custody on the claim of "aiding an illegal organization".

The village was evacuated in the 90's

Çeltikbaşı village had been evacuated in the 1990's. Residents of the Erguvan / Bêlekê hamlet who had to leave the village at that time, began returning to their village in the last 10 years and were engaged in agriculture. Most of the 80 houses in the hamlet are empty. In the winter, there are approximately 15 people who stay in these houses. (AS/DG)