The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has opened its electoral campaign in Cizre district of Şırnak.

The party’s District Organization organized a public meeting in the city to kick off the campaign for the early parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on 24 June.

The meeting was attended by many people, confirming the interest of voters and citizens for the party’s proposals.

The meeting was attended by the co-chairs of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Cizre County, a component of the HDP.

Speaking at the meeting, HDP Cizre District Co-President Ali Akdeniz explained about the commissions to be set up in order to facilitate the preparations for the elections.

Party members reiterated their support for the election work, knowing that these will be very unusual elections as they will be held under the Emergency Law.

Cizre was one of the various Kurdish municipalities to declare the Democratic Autonomy and self-government in 2015. The declaration was met by repression. The Turkish government imposed a curfew to many of these cities and launched heavy military operations, actually besieging the cities and indiscriminately attacking the population.

In Cizre, the government offensive begun in September, but the curfew was imposed on 14 December and was only lifted on 3 March 2016. The military and police operation caused hundreds of casualties. On 7 February 2016 alone, 150 people were killed by Turkish security forces, most of them burned alive in the basements of the houses where they had been hiding seeking shelter.

Early this year, the International People’s Tribunal met in Paris and heard the testimonies of various crimes agains the Kurdish people. Among them were the testimonies of former Cizre mayor, Leyla Imret (today a refugee in Germany) and former Sirnak HDP MP, Faysal Sariyildiz.

The former HDP MP said that in Cizre “more than 130 thousands people lived, but after the curfew was imposed, thousands of homes were destroyed and over 100 people were forced to exile. A total of 259 people were killed”.

The International People’s Tribunal is expected to deliver its verdict on 22 May, to coincide with a session of the European Parliament, a month before the elections in Turkey.