Response to Amnesty from Interior Ministry: Measures in Sur are ‘Legitimate and Proportionate’

Click to read the article in Turkish/Kurdish

The Ministry of Interior has made a press statement about a report titled “Those who have been displaced and dispossessed: Sur residents’ rights to return home” prepared by the Amnesty on December 6, 2016.

The Ministry in its statement remarked that the report “doesn’t reflect the truth”.

“Carrying out anti-terror activities within the frame of legal principles, and norms and standards of human rights documents, Turkey has become a target of baseless claims as a result of PKK terror organization’s propaganda.

“The measures taken as part of fighting terrorism in Turkey are legitimate, necessary and proportionate to protect its citizens from the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party)”, the statement said.

A curfew declared in Turkey’s southeastern Sur district in Diyarbakır province on December 2, 2015 still continues in six neighborhoods. No one is left in the six neighborhood. Operations had commenced with the declaration of the curfew.

What had the report said?

The Amnesty’s report had said that “Estimated 500,000 people including tens of thousands of Sur residents were displaced as a result of Turkey’s authorities’ merciless crackdowns that lead to mass punishment”.

The report also noted that 500,000 people have been forced to immigrate and that the displaced people couldn’t find sufficient affordable housing and had difficulties in accessing to basic services. (AS/TK)