JINHA

ŞIRNEX – After Turkish state forces attacked a group attempting to retrieve the wounded in the besieged town of Cizre earlier today, three of those wounded in the attack are still trapped in the town. Parliamentary representative Faysal Sarıyıldız and approximately 20 others are currently trapped in the basement of a house under intense attack.

Despite the European Court of Human Rights’ recent rulings over the last few days calling for medical attention to be provided in Cizre, Turkish state forces have continued to deny ambulance access to the wounded in the town of Cizre. Earlier today, a group of Cizre residents—among them Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) representative for the province Faysal Sarıyıldız—headed to Nusaybin Avenue with the goal of retrieving four wounded citizens, as well as the dead bodies of Serhat Altun, Ahmet Tunç and Mehmet Kaplan. Turkish state forces opened fire indiscriminately on the group.

Three of those wounded in the attack are still trapped in the area. Turkish state forces are maintaining heavy gunfire on the house where the group are currently trapped in the basement. Faysal Sarıyıldız is among those trapped in the house.

Some of the wounded have been successfully hospitalized, but reports indicate that several are in critical condition. Among the wounded are Refik Tekin, a cameraman for news channel İMC TV, and Abdulhamit Koçal, a member of the city council.

Meanwhile, an ambulance heading to the scene was stopped by police. Police violently assaulted and arrested the healthcare workers and wounded individuals in the ambulance. While the healthcare workers were released with the threat “you can’t go anywhere without us knowing,” police abducted the wounded patients and took them to an unknown location.

“We told officials that there is an ECHR injunction, that there are wounded there, that they should obey the injunction and that if they did not obey the injunction, we would go get [the wounded and dead bodies] ourselves,” said Faysal. “After we had retrieved the dead bodies, we were savagely fired on at Nusaybin Avenue.”

Faysal has reported that there are currently at least 12 people wounded as a result of the attack. He said that the condition of two of those wounded was severe, and that they may have lost their lives.

Meanwhile, wounded Cizre resident Orhan Tunç is missing. Yesterday, the ECHR has issued an injunction ruling that Orhan must be allowed medical care.

Orhan’s sister-in-law Zeynep Tunç noted that the ECHR had also issued an injunction calling for the right to medical care for Hüseyin Paksoy, but that 16-year-old Hüseyin had passed away as Turkish forces continued preventing him from being taken to the hospital.

“We don’t want Orhan to die from blood loss that way. We don’t know what his condition is. The state isn’t giving us any information,” said Zeynep. “Injunctions aren’t enough any more; let them stop this oppression. Our children are being killed.”

(at-ab-ma/gc/cm)