The “restricted areas”, “military security zones” and “curfews” are not enough for the AKP-ruled Turkish state, so they also impose complete evacuation of villages. Most recently, 10 villages in Ağrı’s Doğubeyazıt district received notices to evacuate immediately.

Ağrı Gendarmerie Command wants to evacuate the mountain villages in Ağrı Mountain and Tendürek. The villagers of Yaygınyurt, by the skirts of Ağrı Mountain, had their village burned and destroyed by soldiers in 1993 because they refused an imposition to become village guards. The Turkish state suffered heavy blows by the hands of the guerilla and now they want to evacuate villages like they did in the 1990’s. Operations have increased in the Serhat State, especially in the Ağrı Mountain and Tendürek, and these areas have been banned to civilians under the guise of “special security zones”. Ağrı Gendarmerie Command sent notices to Güngören and Yaygınyurt villages in Doğubeyazıt on May 19 for an urgent evacuation of the villages.

“THIS IS OUR HOME”

Güngören and Yaygınyurt villagers who live on animal husbandry are protesting this decree. The villagers say the state wants to push them out since 1992, but that they won’t leave their lands. One Yaygınyurtlu resident who spoke to the ANF said the Turkish forces raided the village and pushed the locals to collaborate, but they stood against it. The villager stressed: “We will never leave our lands, this is our home. For hundreds of years, our ancestors lived in Yaygınyurt, and we won’t leave our village.”