JINHA

AMED – As Turkish state forces continue attacks on the Sur district of Diyarbakır as of this morning, the provincial governor has announced that civilians would be evacuated from the area at 4 p.m. today. In new footage from the besieged district showing wounded children and others trapped by the siege, a woman denounces the Turkish state’s killing of its own people.

For 84 days, Turkish state forces have maintained a blockade and attacks on the Sur district of Diyarbakır. Nearly 200 people remain trapped in a basement in Sur, among them 4-month-old baby Elif Su and her mother Seda.

With artillery fire and assaults on Sur intensifying in recent days, the sound of artillery began at first light today. Helicopters have also been flying nonstop over areas where a “curfew” is declared. An explosion took place as armored digging machines were carrying away debris from homes destroyed in the Fatihpaşa and Hasırlı neighborhoods. It is still unclear whether there have been any deaths or injuries in the incident.

Citizens are maintaining a vigil at the city’s Tigris-Euphrates Culture Center, calling for an aid corridor to be opened for those trapped in Sur. Artists visited the vigil today. While the Diyarbakır governor announced that “civilians may be evacuated from the area at 4:00 p.m.” today, attacks intensified ahead of the hour given by the governor.

A group of those who carried wounded woman Fatma Ateş to an ambulance was arrested several days ago. Fatma succumbed to her wounds. Meanwhile, the group of six—among them Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reporter Mazlum Dolan—have provided testimony to the state prosecutor at the Diyarbakır Courthouse today. The group has been sent to court with a demand for their continued detention.

Meanwhile, new cell phone footage from Sur has emerged in the press today. The footage includes images of wounded children in a house with broken windows and collapsing walls. Six children (two of them wounded) appear in the footage, in which a woman describes what they have gone through:

“They’re firing with tanks. Areas where there are civilians are being bombed. We’re suffering here. We have wounded people. A grenade launcher fell on [wounded child] Kadir yesterday evening. He was wounded in his arm and head. We haven’t been able to breathe since last night; they’re firing tear gas [at us].

“How can a state kill its own people in this way? We’re surprised. We don’t understand the goal of the state killing civilians.”

The woman noted that the children cannot bathe, that their condition is critical and that there are hundreds of families like this in Sur.

“We’re a people. We’re civilians. Don’t bomb us. Don’t kill our children.”

The child in the footage smiles despite his wounded arm.

(ekip/gc/cm)