JINHA

ŞIRNEX – Since September 4, the Kurdish town of Cizre, Turkey has been under police assault. A 35-day-old baby and a 13-year-old girl are among seven dead as of this morning.

Since September 4, Turkish state forces have maintained an assault on residential neighborhoods in the town of Cizre, in Northern Kurdistan. Police have blockaded and stopped ambulance access to four neighborhoods, resulting in the death of a baby just over a month old, among other residents. Damage is widespread after security forces rained fire on the town yesterday from tanks, helicopters and sniper positions. Locals are continuing their attempt to defend the areas against the assault.

Late Friday night, a baby named Muhammed Tahir Yaramış died due to the police blockade, according to Dicle News Agency. Muhammed had fallen ill, but his parents were unable to take him to a hospital because of the severe police attacks. They then called an ambulance. “The armored vehicles waiting in the street stopped the ambulance from coming to our house,” said Muhammed’s father, Abdullah Yaramış. “The ambulance waited for a while there, then went back.” Muhammed died around 3:00 a.m. Like many residents, he was unable to be buried due to the police blockade and his body was kept in the local mosque.

A 13-year-old girl named Cemile Çağırga was among the dead as police and soldiers launched a heavy assault yesterday evening. Soldiers began bombing the Nur neighborhood from tanks and helicopters at around 8 p.m. Three houses were set ablaze with their residents still inside. As residents attempted to fight the fire, snipers positioned around the area stopped their efforts, wounding an unknown number of locals. Snipers also opened fire on reporters from our agency, who escaped unharmed.

Police have followed a policy of preventing access to the hospital throughout the clashes. An employee at the Cizre State Hospital reported anonymously via social media: “For three days, we’ve been trapped in the hospital. Police beat the hospital personnel and security officers and locked them in a room until morning. Police are pointing guns at nurses’ heads and threatening to kill them, and punching our nurse co-workers. In any case, ambulances aren’t getting to the wounded or the dead; it’s apparently been forbidden,” reported the hospital employee, who compared the tactics to those used by Israel against Palestinians. It emerged that police did bring their own wounded to the hospital for treatment yesterday evening.

This morning, 18-year-old Cizre resident Osman Çağlı died of blood loss as a result of police policies of refusing hospital access. Osman was shot in the chest yesterday. Residents had attempted to bring him to the hospital last night, but police opened fire on the vehicle, forcing the locals to turn back. Osman died of blood loss today, becoming the seventh casualty of the attacks.

Meanwhile, Cizre residents continue daily protests against the police assault. Last night, residents held a noise demo to protest the attacks from their homes, as they have every night of the police attack. They chanted slogans, including “long live the Cizre resistance” and “killer police, get out of Cizre.” Police responded to the noise demo by opening fire on participating homes. Despite the rainfall overnight, residents protested the assault in several neighborhoods by firing fireworks and dancing traditional Kurdish dances.

Today, clashes have continued in several locations. Because of the power and water cuts, residents are unable to complete the religious rites and bury their dead. The bodies remain waiting in the mosque. Residents have said that they intend to bury the dead today, as summer temperatures are continuing in the town.

(fk/zd-ma/pz/gc/cm)