In the rural area of Silvan district in Amed (Diyarbakır), a nomad family was forcibly detained by the Turkish military on Saturday. At least five members of the family, aged between nine and forty-five, were taken into custody by the Turkish forces on suspicion of "terror" and taken to the gendarmerie station in Silvan. While the 9-year-old child was placed in the care of relatives, the adults, including a woman, were transferred to the gendarmerie command in Amed after a compulsory health check.

The incident took place in the hamlet of Bameydan (Yuva), east of the centre of Silvan, after fighting between the guerrillas and the Turkish army. According to reports, three guerrillas from the HPG (People’s Defense Forces) lost their lives during the clash, after which the Turkish army launched a military operation in Bameydan. The area of operation also includes the site where the Kurdish nomad family targeted by soldiers had pitched their tent.

A delegation conducted an examination at the scene today. The delegation was made up of members of the DTK (Democratic Society Congress), MEBYA-DER (Association for Assistance, Solidarity and Culture with Families Who Lost Their Relatives in the Cradle of Civilizations), TJA (Free Women’s Movement), HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party), DBP (Democratic Regions Party), Green and Left Party, politicians from Amed, Muş, Batman, Bingöl and Mardin, DTK Co-Chair Berdan Öztürk, Green Left Party deputies Adalet Kaya, Ömer Faruk Hülakü, Sümeyye Boz and Kamuran Tarhan.

The delegation first examined the site where the tent of the nomad family had been found. Speaking here, MP Adalet Kaya stated that they encountered no evidence of clashes, as villagers also told them.

According to Kaya, state forces carried out an attack against civilians in an area where nomads feed their sheep and cattle. The MP spoke of torture, citing social media posts showing two men stripped down to their pants and lying next to an armoured vehicle with their hands tied behind their backs.

“Prohibition of torture shouldn’t be violated under any circumstance. Today we witness here a return to the practices of the notorious 90’s. We strongly reject attacks on civilian settlements.”

Kaya added that the delegation’s report would be shared with the public later on.

In the meantime, three bodies have been brought to the Institute of Forensic Medicine (ATK) in Amed today. The bodies are said to be of the three guerrillas who reportedly died in the course of clashes with the Turkish army in the countryside of Hêlînê neighborhood on Saturday.

According to as yet unconfirmed information, one of them is said to be a person named Rahim Saygı. His parents have contacted the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Diyarbakır to provide a DNA sample in order to establish his identity.

Meanwhile, detained members of the nomad family are still in the custody of the gendarmerie. The family, originally from the neighbouring province of Batman, had set up a tent and shelter for a herd of animals near the scene of the fighting. The suspicion against them is apparently "supporting terror". It is unclear if and when they will be transferred to a public prosecutor's office.

The Human Rights Association (IHD) branch in Batman stated that the detentions were conducted by force and that several people from the family were mistreated and the tent of the family was burnt down by soldiers.