TOKİ housing construction has started in the area that includes the 3 basements of atrocity where dozens of people were killed during the curfew in Cizre. Families who still haven’t found their children’s bodies protest the construction.
Many houses that were heavily damaged during the curfew instated in Şırnak’s Cizre district between December 14, 2015 and March 2, 2016 have been torn down and TOKİ (Housing Development Administration) is building new housing in their place.
Among the locations are three basements of atrocity where 150 people were killed waiting for an ambulance during the curfew in Cudi neighborhood. Dozens of bodies were retrieved from the basements burnt and without bodily integrity, and now the basements are turned into construction grounds despite the families’ appeals.
EXCAVATION EFFORTS STARTED
Biskon Construction Company won the 105 billion TL bid to build 604 residential and 120 commercial properties. The first stage is expected to be completed by January 31, 2018. The area has been surrounded by fences and excavation has started in some areas. A cafeteria and a dormitory for the construction workers in the first phase, specifically over the area with the basements.
PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES
It has come to light that undamaged buildings without previous demolition orders will also be demolished as part of the project and new buildings will be constructed. Reports say the Şırnak Environment and Urbanization Directorate is pressuring the families to sign the forms for the demolition of these houses.
A citizen named Murat Arslan had demolished his old house and built a new one 5 months before the curfew. Arslan said his house is sound and stated that the new housing won’t suit his family’s lifestyle and they insist on staying in their house with a garden.
HER DAUGHTER’S BODY HASN’T BEEN FOUND YET
The families who lost their children in the basements are angry at the buildings that will rise over the undiscovered bodies. Hezne Arslan gave blood samples many times, but she still hasn’t been given the body of her daughter Hacer Arslan, who was in the first basement. Arslan said the state’s priority should be handing the bodies over, not building housing. Their DNA doesn’t match any of the 35 bodies buried in the anonymous cemetery, and the mother believes her daughter’s body might still be in the area.
THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE THE PEOPLE FORGET
Hazal Akdoğan lost her son Tahir Akdoğan in the second basement. Akdoğan stated that those basements are “part of history” and added that the state was attempting to make them forget what happened. Akdoğan said what happened will never be forgotten and added: “They shouldn’t build life on top of so many deaths.”
