Soldiers set fire to operation area in Lice

The Turkish army set a forest fire in Lice as part of a military operation. The affected area borders on a village, no government help for the inhabitants is in sight.

The Turkish army has set fire to a forest in the Lice district in the province of Amed (Diyarbakir). Before that, a military operation took place in the area bordering the village of Sisê. The inhabitants of the village have so far complained in vain to several authorities about their suffering. Nobody feels responsible for bringing the fire under control. Due to unfavourable wind conditions there is also the danger that they will spread the flames.

Since the peace talks with the PKK were unilaterally ended five years ago by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish government has again been waging a deadly war against the Kurdish population. Since the summer of 2015, the forests of Kurdistan have again been systematically burned down by the Turkish military. This is part of the counterinsurgency and expulsion policy in force in Kurdistan since the founding of the state in 1923.