Homes of Kurdish Families in Izmir Burnt Down
The homes of 14 Kurdish families in the village of Ovacık (Izmir) were knocked down by the municipality of Çeşme. The alleged reason: the houses were "located on agricultural land".
The rubbles of the houses were set on fire after the demolition. The families went to the Çeşme Municipality building after the incident and broke the windows of the building. After the police had intervened, the families went back to their destroyed houses. Çeşme is a district of Izmir, a major city on the Aegean coast in western Turkey.
In a statement made to bianet, the Izmir Co-Chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Mukaddes Kubilay, assessed the municipality's application as an attack aimed at the Kurdish families. He underlined that the municipality did not touch the houses of other families in the same location without Kurdish ethnic origins.
Kubilay said that the families were left homeless. The BDP criticized the application directed by Mayor Faik Tütüncüoğlu, a retired colonel, and sent a delegation to the scene of the incident.
As reported by the DİHA News Agency, Erdal Savcı, MP Candidate of the Labour, Freedom and Democracy Block for the 2nd region of Izmir, issued an announcement on behalf of the BDP delegation while they were still investigating the scene. He said that the houses were set on fire after they had been demolished. Savcı declared that they felt compelled to respond to the situation.
"These people immigrated to this place to live with the people from the Aegean because their homes in Yöre had been burnt down. Yet, the Mayor of Çeşme with his military roots had about twenty houses knocked down but did not touch the houses of people from other regions. For us, this is an indicator for the fascist feelings of the mayor". (NK/EÖ/VK)