As the AKP government continues its all-out attacks across the Kurdish region, operations of political genocide have also reached a record level in the cities in Serhat region of North Kurdistan.
As the AKP government continues its all-out attacks across the Kurdish region, operations of political genocide have also reached a record level in the cities in Serhat region of North Kurdistan.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands of others have been detained by Turkish state forces since the initiation of all-out attacks by the AKP government against the Kurdish people, which started with aerial strikes against PKK-held Qandil region in South Kurdistan territory on 24 July.
During the last two months since 21 October, a total of 562 people were detained and among these 117 were remanded in custody in the provinces of Van, Hakkari, Erzurum, Muş, Ağrı, Bitlis, Iğdır, Kars and Ardahan.
Within the scope of operations of political genocide, the figures of arrests in the mentioned cities are as follows;
140 people were detained in Van, among these 15 were jailed;
97 people were detained in Erzurum, among these 13 were jailed;
65 people were detained in Hakkari, among these 10 were jailed;
95 people were detained in Muş, among these 14 were jailed;
52 people were detained in Ağrı, among these 24 were jailed;
40 people were detained in Bitlis, among these 7 were jailed;
44 people were detained in Iğdır, among these 17 were jailed;
24 people were detained in Kars, among these 12 were jailed;
5 people were detained in Ardahan and all were jailed.
While the arrests were mainly grounded on the allegations of “spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation” and “membership to an illegal organisation”, majority of those arrested is made up of executives of HDP and DBP.
On the other hand, 562 people detained in the operations include 60 minors, of whom 15 were put in prison.
Arrests in Ağrı, Kars and Iğdır are largely based on a different concept involving statements by anonymous witnesses and lists prepared by some authorities in advance.
Those jailed in the mentioned provinces during these past two months include co-mayors of Kars' Digor district, Ekrem Bingül and Şengül Erkmen, co-mayor of Hakkari's Rûbarok (Derecik) town, Cabbar Taş, JINHA (Women's News Agency) reporter Vildan Atmaca and DIHA (Dicle News Agency) reporter İdris Yılmaz.
