JINHA

ISTANBUL/WAN – Among the wounded trapped in a basement in Cizre, under Turkish state blockade, are three artists. Artists in the cities of Istanbul and Van held demonstrations today for the right to life for their colleagues and all trapped in the basement.

A group of wounded Cizre residents have been trapped in a basement in the besieged town of Cizre since Turkish state forces wounded them in a mortar attack. As Turkish state forces bombard the building and turn away ambulances, there has been no word from the wounded for three days. Among them are children, artists and politicians in the region.

Artists from the Mesopotamia Culture Center held an action in Istanbul today for those trapped in the basement.

Artist Nurcan Değirmenci condemned the Turkish state’s claims that there were no civilians in the basement at No. 23 Bostancı Street. She described the work of Feride Yıldız, one of the wounded, as a dance teacher with Cizre children at the Mem û Zîn Culture and Art Center. Another of the wounded, İslam Balıkesir, is a filmmaker working on a documentary, while wounded woman Gülistan Üstün was the singer for musical group Koma Meyaser.

“Turkey, by deploying a mechanism of war that tramples international law and its own internal law, wants to slay our friends in the basement of atrocity,” said Nurcan. “We want the blockade on the basement of atrocity to be lifted and for the wounded to be treated by ambulance. We don’t want to witness our artist friends and dozens of civils being killed.”

Meanwhile, in th city of Van, artists held a press conference at Nuda Culture Center to condemn the savagery against artists and civilians. Artist Haydar Arslan called on all democratically-minded artists to stand up against the savagery in the basement.

(ekip/ck/dc/gc/cm)