After the seizure of the HDP municipalities of Amed, Van and Mardin, the situation in Van and surrounding area has worsened. In Van, Hakkari, Agri and Bitlis road control and searches are carried out en masse and the region is under blockade.
The State of Emergency (OHAL), declared by the AKP-MHP government in 2016, has become permanent with the appointment of trustees to the HDP-run municipalities of Van, Amed and Mardin.
In Van, where democracy and law have been suspended for a long time. The ban on "public actions and events" have been implemented for 1031 days since the AKP-MHP government declared the State of Emergency on 20 July 2016.
Van and its districts have been basically under the ban for two years. Peace Mothers, HDP deputies, elected representatives and people are constantly detained and harassed.
Despite the abolition of the State of Emergency, the government continued to carry out martial law practices that surpassed the State of Emergency. After the appointment of a trustee to Van Metropolitan Municipality detentions, searches, identity and road controls have increased.
400 house raids in the first 8 months of 2019
In the first 8 months of 2019, more than 400 houses were raided in Van, 300 people were taken into custody following these house raids and there have been at least 15,000 identity checks in Van and surrounding areas.
The Kurdish cities of Van, Amed and Mardin were seized on 19 August and the democratically HDP mayors were dismissed and replaced by trustees. All Kurdish cities were blockaded.
Checkpoints have been put up every kilometer between Hakkari, Van, Agri, Bitlis, Igdir provinces and districts.
The AKP, which is not content with checkpoints between cities, has increased the checkpoints even among districts and villages. Long vehicle queues can be seen on the roads because of these checkpoints. Citizens are arbitrarily forced to wait on the roads for hours.
New checkpoints were set up around Van and its provinces. Identity and vehicle controls between Van and Özalp, Erciş, Muradiye, Çaldıran and Baskale turned into a nightmare as hundreds of drivers reported.
During the road checks, hundreds of drivers are arbitrarily fined thousands of pounds each day and the protesting drivers and passengers are detained.
