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December 31, 2015

Turkey: Kurdish Towns Report Lack of Water, Food Amid State Crackdown
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In Turkey, residents of the southeastern town of Cizre are protesting
the lack of water, food and electricity as a two-week government
crackdown continues. Cizre is one of more than a dozen towns under
mandatory curfew for over two weeks. The Turkish government says it is
carrying out a massive military operation to target members of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK. At least 10,000 Turkish
troops, backed by tanks, have been deployed. But local residents say the
military offensive has led to repression of Kurds at large, displacing
an estimated 200,000 people and resulting in civilian casualties,
including the recent death of a five-year-old boy and a three-month-old
girl. In Cizre, shopkeeper Ramazan Simsek spoke out.

Ramazan Simsek: "The country is in a bad place right now. As tradesmen
and citizens, we suffer from electricity being cut off, the water being
cut off. Everyone, especially kids, are mentally not healthy. They can't
go to school; they're spending so much time without education. The
community is miserable right now."