Protests at Iranian Border

The protest action of more than a thousand people at the Esendere border crossing on the Turkish-Iranian border was brought to an end on Tuesday evening (2 August). The protestors demonstrated against operations that have been continued for one month in the mountainous Kurdish region in north-western Iran. This is the region where the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) which is targeted by the operations has several bases.

The crowd protested for three days. More than a thousand people gathered at the Esendere village in the province of Hakkari to protest Iran for the attacks that reportedly also caused the death of civilians. The protestors announced that even though this particular action was ended, their protest would continue as long as the operations were going to continue.

A thousand people came from Şırnak to Iran

YuksekovaHaber reporter Ömer Oğuz who was on the ground evaluated the situation for bianet. He said that a group of an estimated thousand people coming from Şırnak started the protest three days earlier.

After three days, the military talked to Özdal Üçer, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Deputy of Van, BDP Hakkari Provincial Chair Orhan Koparan and Yüksekova District Chair Osman Dara. The three politicians were told that the military was going to intervene in case the protest action was going to be carried on.

Hence, the protest was brought to an end for now. Oğuz reported that the demonstrators said in a press release that they were going to continue their protest nevertheless as long as the military operations were going to continue. According to Oğuz, the people of Yüksekova will protest again against the operations at the border on Wednesday (3 August).

"İran is responsible"

"People in Hakkari, in Yüksekova, in Şemdinli and in Çurkurca are slowly picking up on the protest. As long as the operations are being continued these protest actions will not stop" Oğuz indicated and added that Iran had closed the border during the three-day protest.

"No procedures could be done at the border because Iran closed the border crossing. I talked to the Governor of Hakkari yesterday [Monday]. I told him about the bad situation of the people and said that families cannot see each other since they are not able to cross the border. He said that there was no trouble on the Turkey side but that Iran was responsible for closing entries and exits", Oğuz explained.

Oğuz also spoke to Üçer, the BDP Deputy for Van. He reported that the actual aim of the delegation was to cross the border and protest the operations on Iranian territory.

Oğuz emphasized that the protest would not have lasted that long if Iran had given permission to the delegation for crossing the border.

"TSK vehicles allegedly entered Iran with Iranian licence plates"

Oğuz furthermore had the opportunity to talk to the people in the region. He was told that vehicles belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) got Iranian licence plates at the border and entered Iran that way.

Oğuz observed that he people have become very tense. He noticed the widespread opinion among the people that the operations that are said to be carried out by Iran are actually a joint operation of Turkey and Iran.

Oğuz underlined that the people said that they do not want anyone to be killed any more, neither soldiers nor policemen nor civilians or members of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Oğuz summarized that the people are fed up with war and that they want to live in peace. (EKN/VK)