JINHA

ANKARA – Members of the Peace Mothers group are maintaining a sit-in outside of the UN building in Turkey’s capital of Ankara despite police harassment. Peace Mother Yıldız Bahçeci reported that UN officials’ efforts to stop Turkey’s blockades on Kurdish cities have been rejected.

Last Friday, members of the Peace Mothers headed to Turkey’s capital of Ankara to demand an end to the massacres ongoing in Kurdistan. The Peace Mothers began a hunger strike outside the UN building on Friday, but paused their action upon a promise from the UN that they would work to get an ambulance to the wounded in the city of Cizre and to stop the massacres.

As the massacres continued with the summary execution of many of the Cizre wounded, the Peace Mothers began a sit-in outside the UN building yesterday. They have announced that they will continue their action until their demands are met, despite the -7 degree temperatures and a police blockade around their sit-in.

Today, police threatened the women with “intervention” if they continue their sit-in. Peace Mother Yıldız Bahçeci announced that the women would not be going anywhere.

Yıldız also shared the substance of her interviews with UN representatives, which she said have so far been fruitless.

“They said that they have tried every option, but that they have received only negative responses,” said Yıldız. “The AKP government has declared a war and no one is able to tell them to stop. This is a coup. The speaker at the UN is crying that ‘we can’t do anything.’ They say that wherever they apply about lifting the blockades, they get rejected at every turn.”

Four police cars, three vans for arrests, a number of unmarked police vehicles and a large contingent of riot police are at the ready at the UN building.

(sy/fk/cm)