Inspecting 5 of the 39 villages under blockade for 11 days, HDP Amed MP Nursel Aydoğan said the cannabis that is used as an excuse for the operations in the region is planted under direct state supervision.

Aydoğan talked to the ANF about her observations and said, “The villagers we spoke to said the state had struck a deal with the cannabis growers and allowed drug production in return for the villagers keeping the guerillas out.”

Aydoğan expressed that the state had damaged the martyrs cemetery in Sîse (Yolçatı) village again and left one grave open and said, “This is a provocation meant to torture people visiting their children’s graves in the holidays. We are faced with a government that deems the Kurdish people worthy of this cruelty."

FIRES STARTED BY A SUBSTANCE DROPPED FROM HELICOPTERS

Afs the operations ended, HDP Amed MP Nursel Aydoğan inspected 5 out of the 39 villages blockaded between June 23 and July 3. She emphasized that the natural environment and all living creatures in it were deliberately massacred in Lice.

Aydoğan inspected Sîse (Yolçatı), Derxust (Dibek), Kerwas (Yalaza) and Mehlê villages yesterday and said vast swathes of forest were burned in these villages where the operations focused. Aydoğan said they saw many animals perished in these fires and stressed that a forest fire was still ongoing in the Fis Plains.

Aydoğan pointed out that these fires were started deliberately by the security forces and said: “The villagers have told us that the forests started burning after security forces dropped a fireball-like substance from helicopters. In any case, the burned area is so vast that anybody can see that these fires can not have been started by individuals.”

11 DAY LONG CRUELTY

Aydoğan expressed that the villagers suffered greatly for 11 days and there was a huge anger against the state, adding; “The people were imprisoned for 11 days, they were left without electricity as the transformers were damaged by the security forces during the blockade, they had trouble feeding their children as they had limited supplies, they couldn’t fulfill their basic needs, their requests to visit doctors were refused, the animals in the barns suffered because they were left in there for days. Villagers said soldiers visited each house and threatened them by saying they were not responsible for what might happen if they left their homes during the operations.

“Indeed, they told us that one person had died 3 got wounded, while other villagers were tortured and detained some days ago in the Mehlê hamlet in Kerwas village on the day there was a clash in the vineyard near the village. The villagers who went to the scene after hearing screams were surrounded by special operations units and gendarmerie forces and were beaten severely, accused of being there ‘to become human shields’. Without a crime to speak of, 12 people were arrested yesterday because they went to the vineyard after they heard gunshots and screams.”

Aydoğan said the power was still out in the villages and it got pitch black after nightfall. The villagers resort to primitive ways to have light in their homes.

THE STATE DAMAGED THE MARTYRS' CEMETERY AGAIN ON THE EVE OF THE HOLIDAY

Aydoğan said the state wasn’t content with murdering nature and imprisoning people as the security forces also damaged the martyrs' cemetery in Sîse village where the slain children of the people were buried. HDP MP said, “The security forces that had attacked the Lice martyrs' cemetery before have torn down the remaining walls and left one grave open.” Pointing out that this attack right before the holidays was deliberate, Aydoğan said: “This is a provocation meant to torture people visiting their children’s graves in the holidays. The people visiting graves of their children and relatives will suffer deeply when they see this. Imagine, they don't leave people in peace even in their graves. We are faced with a government that deems the Kurdish people worthy of this cruelty.”

“THE STATE HAS AN AGREEMENT WITH THOSE WHO PLANT CANNABIS”

Aydoğan pointed out that the one biggest reason cited for the blockade, the cannabis fields have since been razed with tractors and then burned, but they were planted under state supervision in the first place. Aydoğan said: “The villagers we spoke to said there had never been a time when cannabis was planted and grown so openly, so widely in the region before. The villagers said the crop was planted under direct state supervision this year, and that there had been an agreement between between cannabis planters and the state. The state would turn a blind eye and in return the villagers wouldn’t let the guerrillas into the region. The villagers openly said that authorities came to the villages and said ‘You can plant as much cannabis as you want, but you will keep the PKK members from coming here and let us know when they do.’”

Aydoğan underlined that the AKP government that tried to frame the operation as “the greatest drug bust in the country’s history” had failed and said: “The government aimed to destroy the guerrilla, evacuate the villages and depopulate this region but they failed. As of yesterday, the villages came to life again and people returned to their villages.”