Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) prepared a comprehensive and updated report on Turkey’s blockade on Şırnak’s Cizre district. The report, titled “The Anatomy of Brutality” and based on investigations by national and international institutions in Cizre, has been announced at a press conference at Switzerland Press Club Headquarters in Geneva.

The press conference was attended by HDP Şırnak MP Faysal Sarıyıldız, a close witness to the Cizre massacre, and International Law and Constitution Professor Norman Peach. Many international journalists followed the press conference where Sarıyıldız made the report public. He described the Cizre events as a direct war crime and shared the evidences of massacre with the press. He said; “The United Nations and international powers are still silent despite so many blatant war crimes, this is unacceptable.”

As of October 2016 a total of 114 curfews had been declared, in 9 provinces and at least 35 districts. In Diyarbakır 63, Mardin 18, Şırnak 13, Hakkâri 11, Muş, Batman and Bingöl two and in Dersim one. Again, as of October 2016, since curfews began in August 2015 in Cizre, Silopi, İdil, Şırnak, Yüksekova, Nusaybin and Sur, a total of 863 people had died and the right to life and right to access health of at least 1 million 671 thousand people was adversely affected. As a result this groups fundamental rights where severely violated. Such rights included the right to freedom and security, travel, communication, environment, respect for private and family life, freedom of assembly; freedom of religion, freedom to access information, right to protection of property, right to education, prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to life and physical integrity were severely violated.

During the curfews announced in December numerous crimes were committed, first and foremost mass killings and forced depopulation, as curfews began to last for months. It has been established that no precautions whatsoever were taken to protect fundamental rights and freedoms during these long-lasting curfews. During this process, while absolutely no measures were taken to evacuate civilians from the conflict areas, groups of people attempting to leave urban areas carrying white flags were fired upon. Cizre was the place were the worst incidents occurred.

During the curfew which was declared in Cizre lasted for 79 days, as far as is known by public opinion, 31 peopled died in the first basement,  62 in the second basement and 50 in the third basement. It is known that a total of 177 bodies were carried from the area.

In reality, many people, including 41 children, one a baby, lost their lives during the curfew in the entire Cizre area. Due to bodies not being handed over to families and the difficulties in identifying bodies, on account of the damaged state of corpses and the failure to carry out effective and transparent investigations, the total of dead is estimated to be 280. Of these only 262 have been identified. 18 corpses remain in common graves. There is still delay in the process of matching DNA samples given by families with human remains. 

Full text of the report can be found at:

Cizre Report in English 5th March2018 by firat nuce on Scribd