JINHA

AMED - The group Women's Freedom Assembly reported from the town of Silvan that they have observed "war in every sense of the word" in the area of Northern Kurdistan (in Turkey).

A group of women activists and politicians from the Women's Freedom Assembly headed to the town of Silvan yesterday morning, where heavy clashes took place as police and soldiers tried to enter resisting neighborhoods. Women's Freedom Assembly member Nimet Tanrıkulu shared the activists' observations, based on meetings with local people and especially women.

"When we tried to enter the town center, special operations team officers, some of them with their faces covered, pointed the rifles in their hands at us and asked us to leave," said Nimet. The women explained to the officers that they had conducted peace negotiations across Turkey. Eventually, the police let them in.

The group found fear high in the town. People were being told to evacuate the Tekel neighborhood. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Parliamentary representatives, also inside during the clashes, were also told to leave.

"You say, how many times will this country and these people experience the same story?" said Filiz Kerestecioğlu, Parliamentary representative for the HDP, reflecting on her experience. "These are really things we don't want to see anymore."

The assembly spoke with firefighters, who said that homes had burned. When the group met with the district governor, he simply said that he had only been posted there a week ago and did not have information on Silvan. Filiz also reported that residents, trapped in their homes, were unable to access food.

"There are small children and milk is not reaching them," she said.

"As women, we want to call once more on all people and especially women, who say they are democratic, who act with a conscience that opposes war, to stop the war," said Congress of Free Women (KJA) activist Ceylan Bağrıyanık. She compared the scene in Silvan to the city of Kobanê, parts of which were totally raised during a long Daesh siege.

(ny-bc/gc/cm)