The phrase “no vote for you” ended with the death of members of the Şenyaşar family when a Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy candidate visited a shop in Suruç before the June 24th elections. A close relative of the AKP deputy candidate was killed in the clash. Three members of the Şenyaşar family ― […]
12-year old Helin Şen was killed on October 12, 2015, in Sur district of Diyarbakır, the largest city in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast. At the time a curfew was declared in six neighborhoods of Sur, due to Turkish security forces’ military operations in southeast Turkey’s urban areas. Helin was shot from a police vehicle, when […]
Turkey’s Village Guards militia, recruited from pro-government Kurds to aid security forces in the fight against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels, played a significant part in helping President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party win elections last month. One clue that the paramilitary group would play a pivotal role was the Supreme Electoral Council’s decision […]
The trauma stemming from state terror is still alive in the minds of those living in Turkey’s southeast, a region predominantly populated by Kurdish people. In July 2015, a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) armed militant group broke down, leading to clashes in urban areas. Civilians were caught […]