Zeynep Turgut

 

HAKKARİ – “Policies that the people don’t want cannot be in effect for long time,” said the DBP Yüksekova District Co-chair Öznur Evin by reacting to the construction of outposts and the dispeopling policy began in Yüksekova after the lifting of the ‘curfew’.

 

In the last two years, curfews were declared in Diyarbakır’s Sur district, Mardin’s Nusaybin district, Şırnak’s Silopi and Cizre districts after the declaration of “democratic autonomy”. Hundreds of people lost their lives and hundreds were forcibly displaced. Cities and districts were almost razed to the ground. One of these districts is Yüksekova district of Hakkari. As the outposts (police castle-stations known as kalekol) have been built over the burned and destroyed neighborhoods and armored vehicles are in each street of the district.

 

They attack with their assimilation policies

 

Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Yüksekova District Co-chair Öznur Evin commented on policies carried out in Yüksekova after the demolition in the district. Öznur said, “They are building an outpost in each neighborhood. Beside this, military deployment is going on. The state cannot provide security of the people with outpost and military deployment. The state declares its power in this way. Yüksekova has always been known as the fortress of resistance. People of Yüksekova are always bond with their culture and language. For this reason, the state attacks with its assimilation policies.”

 

‘Threat and pressure imposed on people’

 

Emphasizing that the state wants to keep the people under control and it does that by creating fear among the people, Öznur said, “The state has always carried out the policies of fear and elimination until now. A serious threat and pressure are imposed on the people. What the state calls security is nothing but harm to the people. OHAL (State of Emergency) also affects this. They can do everything they want.”