Curfew in 2 Villages, 5 Hamlets in Lice

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Curfew has been declared in two villages and five hamlets in the district of Lice in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır on the ground of an operation to be launched in the region.

Releasing a statement on its official website, the Governorship of Diyarbakır has announced that the indefinite curfew, which has been declared as per the Law no. 5442 on Provincial Administration*, has entered into effect as of 6 a.m. today (December 26) in the following villages and hamlets:

The villages of Birlik and Şenlik; the hamlets of Miaran Komu, Kılaraş Komu, Şakan, Ayaz and Akçapınar.

A curfew was also declared in Lice on the same grounds on December 23 and was lifted one day later.

The 197th curfew in Diyarbakır

The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) Documentation Center has determined that curfew was declared for at least 332 times in 11 provinces and at least 50 districts from August 16, 2015 to October 1, 2018.

CLICK - Curfew Declared for 332 Times in 3 Years

According to the report, at least 1 million 809 thousand people have been affected due to these curfews. The last curfew declared in the province has become the 197th curfew in Diyarbakır.

About Diyarbakır According to the Turkish Statistical İnstitute, in 2014 Diyarbakır was Turkey’s 12th most populated city, with a population of 1,635,048. The population of the city center is 834,854. Diyarbakır’s (Amed’s) city center has about 9000 years of recorded history. The Diyarbakır Castle and Gardens was named a Global Heritage site by UNESCO in 2015. Dicle University was opened in 1978. Diyarbakır Governor: Hüseyin Aksoy Municipality co-chairs: Gültan Kışanak, Furat Anlı (Democratic Regions Party). (The elected Municipality Co-Chairs of Diyarbakır were arrested and the former District Governor of Etimesgut, Cumali Atilla, who has been appointed as a trustee to the municipality, took office on November 2, 2016)

* Law no. 5442 on Provincial Administration, Article 1 - Additional paragraph: "The governor can restrict entries and exits to certain places in the province for 15 days at most for people who are suspected to disturb public order and public security, when the public order is disturbed or serious indications are present to show that it will be disturbed; can regulate or restrict people's wanderings or gatherings in certain places and certain hours and can ban any type of weapon and ammunition from being kept."

(HA/SD)