Ανάρτηση της Kati Piri, εισηγήτριας της Έκθεσης
Προόδου για την Τουρκία, μετά την επίσκεψη της στο Ντιγιαρμπακίρ
Επόμενη εβδομάδα νέα αντιπροσωπεία του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου στην
οποία θα μετάσχω θα πάμε ξανά στην περιοχή! Για την ενίσχυση της ειρήνης! Όσο
μπορούμε.
Ακολουθεί η σχετική ανάρτηση: https://m.facebook.com/kati.piri/posts/10153387719972060
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English version:
A glimmer of
hope
Fatma Ates, 55 years. A woman
who I won't forget. In this picture she is carried by (journalist) Nazlum Dolan,
her husband and her children in a rug. She got injured during fierce fighting
between PKK (youth -) militias and the Turkish Army.
These people were stuck for
80 days in Sur, the old town of Diyarbakir in South-East Turkey. It's one of the
places that since the resurrection of the decades-old conflict between the PKK
and the Turkish Army has become a war zone. No one is allowed in or out of the
area since 2 December. And although the majority of people left their homes
before the curfew, it is estimated that there are still about 1000-2000 people
stuck in sur. Among them, many (injured) citizens and small
children.
On Friday I was in
Diyarbakir, together with a number of European colleagues. Since my last visit
in early December the situation aggravated further. Attacks of the PKK on
security forces are now happening on a daily basis. The recent terrorist attack
in Ankara where 28 soldiers died has also been claimed by a splinter group of
the PKK.
As a reaction, the actions of
the security forces are often hard and ruthless. It makes life in these areas
impossible. On a large scale, there are serious human rights violations taking
place and the desperation of many people's is getting bigger. Meanwhile, the
death toll has risen to above the thousand - including, according to experts,
more than 200 civilian casualties.
After long discussions with
the governor and his deputy, urgent phone calls between Brussels and Ankara,
coordination with the local mayors and hdp-members of the Turkish Parliament,
there was an agreement: for a period of 1,5 hours, the army would stop shelling
so wounded civilians would be able to exit the area. While we were at the office
of the governor, severely wounded Fatma Ates was carried out of Sur by her
family members. This photo appeared the next day on social media. But once in
the ambulance on the way to hospital, she succumbed to her
injuries.
Today was her funeral. The
F-feeling is predominant. The " What If '- scenarios are constantly running
through my head. A few hours before, we had talked to her brother. While the
tears rolled down his cheek, he told us about the critical state of his sister.
It turned out the helpfor her came too late.
On my way home, I try to calm
myself with the knowledge that in the midst of all this misery, five other
people have made it to come out of the area safely. For the first time in many
weeks people managed to leave Sur alive. I just hope that in the coming days,
more people will manage to leave from the basements of bombed
buildings.
What happened Friday will
give back a little bit of hope. The local politicians and the army have done
what they had to do; despite the polarisation and the mutual distrust, they have
shown their human side.
The violence has got to stop,
and the dialogue must be resumed. We have to do everything to avoid a bloody
civil war in Turkey. After all, many .Lives have already been ruined by this
conflict on both sides.
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