[BigNoLove]

The Turkish Interior Ministry announced that it has launched an operation in eastern Turkey against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.The operation, dubbed “Eren-7 Mercan-Munsuz”, is being carried out to clear areas of Tunceli province in eastern Anatolia, with 1,062 troops.

The province is divided into Pulumur, Ovacik, Nazimiye, Hozat, Cemisgezek, Pertek, Mazgirt and Tunceli Merkezi districts, and the Kurds of Kurmanji and Zazaki call this province Dersim (Silver Gate), while the Turkish government uses Tunceli (Bronze fist) to name it.

During the “Dersim genocide” which took place in two stages from March 20 to November 1937 and January 2 to December 1938, the Turkish army carried out a large-scale massacre to suppress the Alawites uprising of the Zaza people. According to Kurdish sources, 65,000 to 70,000 people, and according to Turkish officials, 12,000 people have been killed in air and ground attacks by the Turkish army in this region, and tens of thousands have been deported to central Turkey.


The Turkish government’s plan to integrate ethnic groups and deny the identity of ethnic minorities has sparked major uprisings in the country, and the Turkish military has committed war crimes to suppress these movements. This issue has also caused the liberation movements in the Kurdish and Zaza areas in the east of the country to have a lot of supporters. A large number of people in these areas have joined or assisted the paramilitary forces of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.The Zaza people are originally Deylam, and the Zaza language, in addition to being similar to Kurdish, is closely related to the Mazani, Gilaki, and Talshi Iranian languages. The exact number of Zaza people is not known, but their population in Turkey is estimated at about 4 million.Also, most of the followers of Alawite religion, which include Anatolian Turks, Azeris, Tatars, Kurds, Zazas and Turkmen; are living in Turkey and Syria and a few in Lebanon. According to the fatwa of Imam Khomeini, the Alawites are a branch of the Twelver Shiite religion.Twenty-five million people, or 30 percent of Turkey’s 83 million people, are Alawites, concentrated by the Alawite and Zaza populations in Turkey’s Tunceli province. It can be argued that given the Turkish military background in the region, ethnic and religious motives are high in recent operations.

[Berserk]

Turks are known to slaughter their minorities, been there seen it myself. Dersim was sort of renamed by the turks as punishment and suppression into Tunceli, iron fist... To remind the population of the iron turkish fist that can hit them whenever the turks fancy it

Not the first time turks slaughter local populations in the name of 'Fighting terrorists'

2016: Nusaybin, the Southeastern Turkish/ Kurdish city that earlier was nearly completely destroyed causing lots of civilian casualties by the Army of Erdogan

Some European friends faced a lifetime prison for daring to eyewitnessing the onslaught, and only after pressure from diplomats they where expelled from turkey to never be allowed back.

Turkey is a very dangerous place if you don't fit the picture

I found an article about this that offcourse got taken offline the same week, but Houray for the internet Archive that has a copy of everything:

29 January 2016

ANF - Şırnak


The 19 people trapped in a basement in Cizre's Cudi neighborhood for 7 days are still waiting for an ambulance.


The wait for medical assistance has caused the death of 6 people who bled to death; four others are in life-threatening condition at the moment and one person has lost consciousness.


Ambulances, including those belonging to Cizre Municipality aren't allowed access to the scene which remains under attack by Turkish forces pretending to be engaged in “clashes with terrorists” in the area. The aggression has destroyed the top three floors of the building already. The trapped civilians do not have water for the past three days.

RELATED: Sixth Death In Basement In Cizre


It is reported that one of trapped people managed to unscrew the bolts of the water purification tank in the basement and take out a litre of water, which was only enough to wet "everyone's lips with cotton."


Democratic Regions' Party (DBP) Party Assembly Member Mehmet Yavuzer who is one of the wounded in the basement said the following in a SMS he sent to Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Faysal Sarıyıldız who is also in the town;


"I will kill myself. It is enough now. I don't want to hear any more screams for water. I don't want anyone to call me anymore. Water, comrade, just water..."

RELATED: Ambulances Dispatched For Trapped Civilians But Turkish State Forces Continue Attack

[Berserk]

They didn't make it btw, that trapped family

[bigbear8]

Originally Posted by Berserk ↗

Turkey is a very dangerous place if you don't fit the picture

Or perhaps, it's dangerous if you do fit the picture of what they're seeking?

Personally, Turkey was one of the countries that shocked me when I visited for a few weeks. The AirBnBs I stayed in were decent and the food was really delicious and diverse. People seemed pretty friendly too! It made a really good impression on me especially since I knew nothing of the country before I landed.