IPS/TURKEY/SEPTEMBER 1992

[PeaceNet Middle East Team]

From: <pnmideast>
Subject: IPS/TURKEY/SEPTEMBER 1992

/* Written 12:12 am  Sep  6, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "Turkey: Kurds refuse to return to t" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: Turkey: Kurds refuse to return to town demolished by army


cizre, turkey sep 3 (ips) -- twenty thousand residents of the town
of sirnak in this southeastern kurdish province refuse to return
to their homes, claiming the army systematically devastated their
homes without provocation two weeks ago.

reports of the incident at the time stated that the army had
clashed with guerillas of the kurdistan workers party (pkk) in
sirnak.

the residents say that was not true.

"a guerrilla raid would last at most 1 or 2 hours,'' one pointed
out to ips. ''but the army fired for 48 hours. and we have seen no
guerrillas in the town. how could they manage to penetrate sirnak
which was surrounded by thousands of troops.''

now that their homes have been devastated by tank fire, the
residents have taken refuge with relatives in neighbouring towns.
but 3,000 others have had no place to go and remain in tents on
the banks of herzin creek, 50 kilometers to the west of sirnak.

living like a nomadic tribe, they have already got used to doing
without proper food and electricity.

''nobody in the government cares for us. nobody is concerned with
our fate," one sixty-year old man complained to ips, eating a dish
of plain macaroni. their only hope was to demand asylum from some
other foreign country, he added.

''i don't want to go to school anymore,'' said gurbet, 8, a
schoolgirl whose lips quivered with fear as she related the events
in sirnak.

being the eldest of 6 sisters, she has assummed the
responsibility of caring for them. she wore the same yellow dress
she had on when she fled sirnak; all others were left behind.

''our home is in sirnak but all we had was burnt. i don't want to
return there any more. i don't want to hear the sound of artillery
guns," she stated.

7 families, at least 50 people, now live in a tent 15 square
metres large. they get water from the creek. their food, mainly
macaroni, tomatoes and bread is supplied through the aid campaign
launched by cizre municipality.

under the blazing sun, where the temperature is around 40 c, the
children swim in the tiny creek, as though they are in a summer
camp.

but they say that the police is again harassing them in their
tent villages. (more/ips)

turkey: kurds refuse to return (2)

''we are in fear again. they have taken some people. they will
not let us remain here. they will bomb us again,'' one stated.

kormiye, a 19 year old pregnant woman spoke about death as though
it was an ordinary thing.

turkey: kurds refuse to return to town demolished by army(2-e)

''the turkish republic has not used only chemical weapons against
us. all of my relatives are under arrest. they bombed us
themselves and now they beat us, kill us and put the blame on
us.''

all believe that the clashes were provoked by the regiment
commander, general mete sayar. thus they demand his discharge as a
condition for returning to their city. they also want the police
chief and governor fired and their homes rebuilt by the
government.

once inhabited by 20 thousand native kurds plus 10 thousand
troops, policemen and other security personnel and their families,
sirnak now seems a ghost city.

only military personnel, village guards and the public servants
stay there. the public servants come to work under the threat of
being fired but leave the city after work time.

some residents, interviewed in the park, say they have come to
collect their things and will leave the town for ever. ''we don't
want to live in fear,'' they told ips.

sirnak looks like a real war zone. while most of the private
houses have been demolished, those which have survived the heavy
bombing have bullet holes all over their walls.

the silence of death covers the city. the streets and  main roads
which were once full of 350 corpses of oxen, broken glasses and
cartridges, have been swept.

suleyman tatar, the chief of a village guard tribe with 250 armed
men told ips: "all i know is that we were attacked by terrorists."

many people from sirnak have taken refugee in cizre. more then 30
people try to survive in single rooms ten feet square. famine is
out of question, thanks to the hospitality of the people of cizre
who share their meager lot with their neighbors.

"we want nothing from that state anymore. we have lost all we
had. no shops, no cars, no houses", said a forty-year-old woman,
who lives with her married daughter in cizre.

her daughter pointed at the pit dug under the floor. "we are
digging our shelters. once they have started in sirnak, they will
continue here. the state will attack here too."

all the people of cizre are digging these shelters, which they
believe might save their lives. (ends/ips/nm/nm)