Turkey imposes curfews on 16 villages in southeast

DİYARBAKIR – Reuters

Turkey imposed round-the-clock curfews on 16 villages in its southeast on July 14 as security forces tried to root out militants nearby and sacked two co-mayors it accused of supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

Authorities in the province of Diyarbakır imposed the lockdown as security forces searched for members of the PKK in the hills and woods near the town of Silvan, the provincial governor said in a statement. 

People will not be allowed to enter or leave the area near Silvan during the curfew, the governor’s statement said. 

“It is important for citizens to follow the ban for the security of their lives and property,” it said. 

Separately, the Interior Ministry ordered the co-mayors of the town of Mazıdağı in the province of Mardin to be removed from office, security sources said. 

A prosecutor is investigating the elected officials’ potential culpability after a municipal vehicle was allegedly used in a car-bomb attack on a gendarmerie outpost that killed two soldiers and wounded another 12 on July 9. 

In the past year, a number of mayors from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) were dismissed or arrested for alleged links to the PKK. 

Meanwhile, the district governor in the restive town of Nusaybin said its four-month curfew would be lifted on July 19. Clashes with the PKK there ended on June 3, but authorities have barred residents from returning as they continued weapons searches and conducted cleanup operations.