The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is paying a visit to the main Kurdish city, Amed, to make a speech at a rally in Station Square. Intense security measures are being taken in the city with the deployment of additional police from neighbouring cities like Van and Urfa. The city seems to be under a state of emergency and a police blockade, while shopkeepers closed the shutters of their shops in protest at Erdoğan’s visit.

The Turkish president has come to the region to attend an opening ceremony in Batman after which he will go to Amed to join the rally.

All the roads leading to Station Square where the Turkish president Erdoğan is to hold a rally are blockaded, while police are deployed in all parts of the city. Police are patrolling the city in armoured vehicles, while graffiti on the walls in support of the PKK and the YPG has been covered up. The shopkeepers are protesting the visit of Erdoğan by pulling down the shutters of their shops in the city, primarily in the Baglar district.

In the meantime all activities planned today in the Sümer Common Life Park, mainly the People’s Assembly meeting, were cancelled by an order issued by the Amed Governorate. The deployment of armoured vehicles around the rally area is continuing.