BDP Kışanak: We saw guerrillas in Şemdinli, not security forces

18 August 2012 – ANF – The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and DTK (Democratic Society Congress) delegation encountered a road control by Kurdish guerrillas in Bağlar village of Şemdinli on Saturday.

Speaking to ANF after the delegation finished its survey in the region, BDP co-chair Gülten Kışanak said that they didn’t come across any security forces in the region they examined. “We came across guerrilla forces on the way back from the villages we visited but there were no security forces in the region except for a military point on the way out of Şemdinli province. A large number of cultivated areas and yards were completely burnt out in the villages where people say they are deliberatively targeted by the bombardment of security forces”, said Kışanak.

BDP Mersin MP Ertuğrul Kürkçü also called attention to the lack of presence of Turkish security forces in the region and said on the basis of the information they provided from a village headman that seven out of ten villages in the area have been evacuated because of the clashes. Especially children have been greatly affected by the bombardment but people don’t want to leave their villages, Kürkçü underlined and added that; “The people we talked to told us that a colonel warned them to leave the region for safety and that none of the authorities has taken a step to ensure their security.”

Kürkçü also gave information about their encountering guerrillas at a road control point; “The group of guerrillas we came across made propaganda for their purpose and said they fight for the freedom and democratization of all peoples in Turkey and the Middle East.”