‘At Least 369 Official Curfews Declared in the Last 3.5 Years’

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

According to the data shared by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) Documentation Center, at least 369 officially confirmed curfews have been declared in at least 11 provinces and 51 districts of Turkey since August 16, 2015, which marks the first day when indefinite curfews and/or round-the-clock curfews started to be declared.*

Highest number of curfews in Diyarbakır

The curfews have been declared in following provinces in the 3.5-year period between from August 16, 2015 and July 1, 2019:

Diyarbakır (214 times)

Mardin (54 times)

Hakkâri (23 times)

Şırnak (13 times)

Bitlis (26 times)

Muş (7 times)

Bingöl (7 times)

Dersim (6 times)

Batman (6 times)

Elazığ (2 times)

Siirt (11 times)

In the first six months of 2019, at least 18 official curfews have been declared in three eastern provinces, namely Bitlis, Siirt and Diyarbakır.

23 curfews with hour limitations

From August 11, 2017 to January 1, 2019, at least 23 round-the-clock curfews were also declared in some villages and hamlets in Şemdinli, Hakkari and in Hizan, Güroymak, Mutki, Tatvan and Center in Bitlis.

These curfews with hour limitations, namely the round-the-clock curfews, have not been included in the above count.

'At least 1 million, 809 thousand people affected'

As stated by the TİHV Documentation Center, according to the last population census conducted in Turkey in 2014, at least 1 million 809 thousand people were living in the related districts.

It is estimated that fundamental rights of these people such as the right to liberty and security; right to privacy, family, home or correspondence; freedom of assembly and association; freedom of religion; freedom to receive and impart information; right to reserve of property; right to education and right to life; right to health and prohibition of torture were violated.

"Yet, this data is not possible to be updated since the regions of curfews slid to the villages and flatlands in 2016, by the reason that their population census is whether not taken or not released to the public", the Foundation has indicated further in its report. (AS/SD)

* While indefinite curfews refer to the ones, ending dates of which are not announced beforehand, round-the-clock curfews are the ones that are expected to be in effect for 24 hours.