Democratic Regions' Party (Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi - DBP) Central Executive Committee members held a press conference in the Party Headquarters Advisory Bureau in Amed on the ongoing blockade and siege along with the declared “curfew” in villages of Mardin’s Nusaybin district. DBP Deputy Co-chair Gülcihan Şimşek and DBP Co-vice chair Mehmet Arslan, two of the participants in the watch for Nusaybin’s Xerabê Bava (Kuruköy) village under blockade and siege for days, were also in the meeting.

Şimşek said they could not contact the Mardin Governorate and the Nusaybin District Governorate in any way. Şimşek added that their committee was barred from entering the village, as the “operation was still in progress”, and that there is no communication with the village where severe human rights violations are taking place.

“URGENT NEED FOR INTERVENTION”

Şimşek said martial law practices continued in the region since the 1990’s and continued:

“Over 4 thousand villages have been burned and evacuated. Xerabê Bava is just one of these villages that were evacuated and then later rebuilt. The events of today are the result of security politics. The torture and cruelty suffered by the villagers is unacceptable. The statements that Xerabê Bava villagers’ needs are being met is not true. Despite all this, entrance to the village is barred. We know that these events, what the Kurds go through, the Kurdish issue won’t be resolved with these policies that have been in place for the last 40 years.

Photographs we have acquired show the extent of the events. There is an urgent need for intervention in the Xerabê Bava village. While these events continue in Xerabê Bava, blockade and siege started in two more villages. The government and state officials need to make statements on these events.”

Şimşek called on international human rights institutions to defend Xerabê Bava village and called on the government and the state to comply with the Convention on Human Rights.

DBP Deputy Co-chair Gülcihan Şimşek stated that the watch demonstration will continue until the blockade and the siege end, and added: “We don’t know what forces are in there. We know what happened in Nusaybin, and the destruction in Nusaybin now continues in Xerabê Bava. The women are forced to cook for these forces. Our struggle will continue.”