The December 2015–February 2016 Cizre curfew was the second Turkish military curfew in

Cizre Cizre () is a city in the Cizre District of Şırnak Province in Turkey. It is located on the river Tigris by the Syria–Turkey border and close to the Iraq–Turkey border. Cizre is in the historical region of Upper Mesopotamia and the cultura ...

since the onset of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict after the end of the cease fire between the PKK and the Turkish state in 2015. The curfew took place within the scope of the 2015–16 Şırnak clashes and after the September 2015 Cizre curfew, during a period of violent curfews throughout

Turkish Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () is the southeastern part of Turkey where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of them in the ...

. The Cizre curfew involved "wholesale destruction of large residential areas carried out by the military", which used

crew-served weapon A crew-served weapon is any weapon system that is issued to a crew of two or more individuals performing the same or separate tasks to run at maximum operational efficiency, as opposed to an individual-service weapon, which only requires one pe ...

s, including

airstrike An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

s. More than 150 civilian were burned alive while sheltering in basements.

The curfew

On the 14 December 2015, the Turkish Government announced a twenty-four hour curfew for the city of Cizre. As in other places, the Turkish military used heavy weapons to bomb residential areas. According to

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, the total death toll was "up to 160". Around 20 January Turkish military opened fire without warning on a group of unarmed Kurdish civilians waving white flags, thereby killing two and wounding nine people. The video journalist Refik Tekin filming the incident was shot in the leg and later accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation. Turkish state media reported: "Three terrorists were neutralised and nine others wounded". The

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univer ...

expressed concerns and urged an investigation. During the military operations in the weeks before the massacre on 7 February there were reports about people trapped in basements, some of them wounded, and that the government denied emergency ambulance access. ''

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

'' published a recording of a telephone conversation with the citizens in one of the basements.

Cizre basement massacre

The violence peaked on 7 February 2016, when more than 150 civilians were killed by Turkish security forces, reportedly many burnt alive. The same sources claim that the evidence shows these were intentional massacres and deliberate executions that "cannot be explained only as a result of the fighting." Some of the claimed dead were allegedly children as young as nine to 10 years old. Some of the totally burned corpses could not be identified. In another recording it is reported that Turkish security forces burned about 20 people alive after pouring gasoline into a basement, and that they were playing music used by the ultra-nationalist organisation called Grey Wolves. As reported by

IPPNW International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) is a non-partisan federation of national medical groups in 63 countries, representing doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned people who share the goal of ...

, according to the Human Rights Association 178 unarmed people were killed by the Turkish military and their bodies found in three basements. The same is reported by Kurdish sources. Turkey called these accusations "baseless terror propaganda" used as "recruitment tools". According to the UN Turkey refused to allow a UN team to conduct research in the area. The UN says it has reports that more than 100 people were burned to death while sheltering in basements in Cizre. There was no crime scene investigation and no judicial authority was allowed to enter the basements. Instead the Turkish authorities arranged for the ruins to be flattened, the basements filled with rubble, and the bodies taken away.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

suspects a cover-up.

In the media

: There is no balanced coverage by Turkish media because of

censorship in Turkey Censorship in Turkey is regulated by domestic and international legislation, the latter (in theory) taking precedence over domestic law, according to Article 90 of the Constitution of Turkey (so amended in 2004). Despite legal provisions, free ...

and

Media blackout A media blackout is the censorship of news related to a certain topic, particularly in mass media, for any reason. A media blackout may be self-imposed or voluntary or enforced by the government or State (polity), state. In countries with stro ...

s. In particular with regard to the

Kurdish–Turkish conflict Kurdish nationalism, Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the pre ...

, critical journalists in Turkey risk prosecution and imprisonment for 'terrorist propaganda'. This is barring a large part of the country from knowing what is going on in the Kurdish region. Articles of the Zaman newspaper on the Cizre basement massacre have become inaccessible after the March 2016 government takeover. : '' Telepolis'' reported about this topic in several articles containing links to further information, there were also some reports on ''

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

'' (see references). : ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' started to report in April 2016 about some incidents during the curfew. End of May there was a

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

report on the Cizre basement massacre.

Reactions

: In March 2016 the

Russian Foreign Ministry The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; , МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with leading the foreign policy and foreign relations of Russia. It is a continuation of the Ministry of Foreig ...

addressed the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

High Commissioner for Human Rights’ office, asking for it to investigate. : On 10 May 2016 the UN high commissioner for human rights has voiced alarm about violence against civilians by Turkish government forces in Kurdish-majority south-eastern Turkey, in particular in Cizre, and expressed concern over the Turkish government’s refusal to allow a UN team to conduct research in the area.

References

External links