BATMAN - Batman Municipality Co-Mayor Songül Korkmaz, who has been replaced by a trustee, reacted to the water cut in eight villages of Kozluk district since June 23 and said: ‘’They tried to intimidate the Kurds with hunger, arrest, persecution and oppression, and now they are trying to intimidate by leaving them without water.’’

 

It provides water to the Yeniçağlar (Zîlan) village, Bacak (Bacaxê) hamlet, Karpuzlu (Selîvê), Samanyolu (Kanîkê), Dövecik (Malê Gir), Parmakkapı (Hiskut), Taşlıdere (Holê) and Eskice (Xoxê) villages  of Kozluk district of Batman province, energies of dynamos were cut by the Dicle Electric Retail Corporation (DİCLE EPSAŞ). While thousands of people, animals and agricultural lands in eight villages were left without water after the cut on June 23 on the grounds of "unpaid debt", 16-year-old İsa Üke in Yeniçağlar (Zîlan) village was in danger of drowning by being caught in the water in the canal he entered to bath. İsa, who was treated in the intensive care unit at Batman Training and Research Hospital, died on July 11.

 

Batman Municipality Co-Mayor Songül Kormaz, who has been replaced by a trustee, said that the water cut was part of the policy of intimidation against the Kurds and emphasized that everyone should support the villagers struggling against the water cut.

 

‘Illnesses increased because there was no clean water’

 

Songül stated that the fact that people are still without water in 2021 is a big problem and this problem should be solved and said: ‘’As the villagers cannot find water, they fill water from the canal or stream with cans. Most of the children in the village became ill because the water was used without treatment. Diseases such as fever and diarrhea began to be seen in children. Batman is a city that is very hot in the summer, its temperature rises to 43 degrees, but the people are thirsty in this hot weather.’’

 

‘Villages will be leaved because lack of water’

 

Saying that they went and visited the villages as Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) delegation, Songül stated that they had been trying to make their voices heard for days, but they could not get an answer. Songül continued as: ‘’Everyone should lay claim to this issue, it is a vital issue. They fined 100,000-150,000 liras per house. The people here cannot pay these fines. Most of them earn enough to live on. How will they give this money? Villagers will leave their village because of thirst. It is really not acceptable for people to leave their village due to thirst at this time. It is not a helpless problem, it has a solution.’’

 

‘This is all a policy of intimidation’

 

Reminding that when they won the Batman Municipality in the local elections in 2019, water cut for three days with the aim to make them come up against with public despite paying the remaining electricity and water debts from the trustee period, Songül said: ‘’They did the same thing in Mardin and Batman. Wherever there are Kurds, they apply a policy of intimidation. They apply different policies to each region. They burn forests in Bingöl and Amed, they kill people, they leave this place without water, they are all interconnected. They tried to intimidate the Kurds with hunger, arrest, cruelty and oppression, and now they are trying to intimidate by leaving without water. They are trying to turn this into profit by taking advantage of Batman's warm. They need to come together and have a dialogue with the people and solve this problem. Enough is enough that the villagers are thirsty. People should not leave their village. The Kurds have been fighting for years, no matter what happens, we will not take a step back.’’