In the Bitlis province of northern Kurdistan, the residents of several villages are being terrorised by the Turkish army. On the grounds that PKK guerrilla fighters have been seen in the region, a curfew was imposed in ten villages in the district of Hizan on Sunday evening. The curfew was imposed by the governor's office for an indefinite period.

In the course of a subsequently launched military operation, fighting took place and houses were stormed in the affected villages. The rural areas of the villages under curfew were shelled by the Turkish army throughout the night. Following the bombardment all night long, ground attacks were launched in the morning.

In Xûlepûr village, three people were detained and taken to the gendarmerie (military police) district headquarters. The detainees, Sakin, Muzaffer and Bedrettin Altın, were taken to Bitlis centre today and are expected to be referred to the prosecutor’s Office during the day.

According to local residents, all villages are besieged by the army. No one is allowed to leave the house. Villagers who wanted to go about their daily agricultural work were sent home by force. At night, state forces stormed into homes and asked: "Where are the terrorists?” All villagers are subjected to criminal record check. In addition to military vehicles, there are also unidentified civilian cars in the area. People in the villages say that these groups are counter-terrorist forces and compare what is happening to the 1990s, when the Turkish state pursued a scorched earth policy in Kurdistan and destroyed thousands of villages.

The villages affected by the curfew are Bilgili, Akunus (Yaylacık), Govan (Sarıbal), Lanilan (Yeniçay), Xulepur (Yolbilen), Kekulan (Çalışkanlar), Sureh (Gedik), Pertavan (Akyazı), Kuran (Erencik) and Ureh (Otluk) and the surrounding settlements.