Two days before the 71st birthday of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan, his birthplace, the village of Amara (Ömerli) in Urfa’s Halfeti district, has been besieged by Turkish military and police forces. All the roads leading to the village are under blockade, starting from the village of Göklü (Gogan) to the house where he was born.

The Kurdish leader’s brother Mehmet Öcalan and his son Ömer Öcalan, who is a deputy of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), were stopped by Turkish forces on their way back to the village from Amed where they visited a hospital. Ömer Öcalan’s driver was not allowed into the village on the grounds that he was not registered there.

Criticising the military blockade, Mehmet Öcalan described the siege as an anti-democratic action, noting that all the area including the surroundings of their house has been besieged by soldiers and police with armored vehicles.

Mehmet Öcalan said; “They have besieged the entire village. Problems cannot be solved this way. There is a state of emergency in the village although people will not be gathering here this year due to the pandemic. This is an anti-democratic action. There is no need for the deployment of this many police, troops and armored vehicles.”