Limited curfews to continue until neighborhoods cleaned of terrorists
by Yunus Paksoy
ISTANBULSep 15, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Yunus Paksoy
Sep 15, 2015 12:00 am
Following an 8-day curfew in the Cizre district of Şırnak province with the aim of removing the urban branch of the PKK, a new strategy of short-term curfews has been adopted to enable security forces to crack down on terrorists and prevent civilian casualties
A new curfew was imposed in the Cizre district of Şırnak on Sunday, only a day after the eight-day-long curfew had been lifted. The second curfew came into effect at 7 p.m. on Sunday and lasted until Monday morning, which was imposed on the ground of a new strategy implemented to fight PKK terror in the region, which includes detecting urban terrorist activity and purging neighborhoods of terrorists.
In an attempt to stop the terrorist organization, which aims to stoke the flames of urban wars from realizing its goals, a new plan has been underway in the districts and neighborhoods of the provinces of Şırnak and Diyarbakır. Curfews were imposed in the Nur, Yasef, Sur, and Cudi neighborhoods of Cizre in Şırnak along with 18 neighborhoods in the Sur and Silvan districts of Diyarbakır.
The main goal of the plan sees operations launched during curfews when civilians are home and not at risk. Particularly in provinces close to the Syrian, Iraqi and Iranian borders, the new strategy is expected to be carried out to successfully clean the streets of terrorists.
In the meantime, counterterrorism units of police departments yesterday launched simultaneous operations against 20 different addresses having alleged links to the PKK in several neighborhoods of Şırnak. Thirteen suspects were detained in the operations.
As operations continue at full steam against the PKK, seven terrorists surrendered to security forces in Şırnak. In addition, the number of terrorists who have surrendered since March 21, 2013 has risen to 917.
Speaking to Daily Sabah about the recent curfew decisions, İlhami Işık, who is a renowned writer on the Kurdish issue, voiced his support and said, "The eight-day-long curfew was a must. In the operations launched during the curfews, the PKK's depots, which have been built up in the last two years, were completely destroyed. The PKK has lost its urban control."
As for the new strategy to take effect in the upcoming operations, Işık said: "It is for the benefit of everyone to impose curfews at night so that women and children are not affected. It is a wisely planned strategy that not only aims to tackle the urban structuring of the PKK but also prevent civilian casualties."
Claiming there is no terrorist organization in the world that solely goes after "immoral motives" such as using women and children as human-shields, Işık went on to criticize the PKK, saying, "The PKK does not pursue a policy other than making propaganda over civilian deaths. It is a horrible reasoning. The terrorist organization is trying to play the victimization card."
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