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It really IS an RT exclusive.
I have looked at BBC, CNN, Reuters, the Guardian, the Independent. In vain. There is no news from Turkey and silence about this outrage.
I wonder if they will get a response from western-based human rights organisations.
Chilling revelations: Diyarbakır, city of the dead and missing
RT,
12
March, 2016
An
RT crew has visited Diyarbakır, the unofficial capital of the
Turkish Kurds, to throw light on the gruesome consequences of
Turkey’s crackdown on the Kurdish population. RT's William Whiteman
talked to the relatives of one of the victims.
RT
took an exclusive look into the mass killings of civilians allegedly
committed by the Turkish military, filming the mourning of those who
lost their loved ones as a result of the ongoing crackdown.
Friday
prayers in Diyarbakir have also become a manifestation of the deep
divide between the locals and the Turkish government.
In
a further effort to quash Kurdish descent, Turkish authorities now
require imams to read government-approved sermons. Thousands of local
Kurds are protesting this move by boycotting the city’s main mosque
and holding prayers in a nearby park.
The
imam speaks in both Kurdish and Turkish, condemning the government’s
actions.
RT’s
William Whiteman witnessed Turkish military helicopters flying
overhead in Diyarbakir, while the explosions and gunfire of the
continuing military operation could be heard.
In
the city’s Sur district, Turkish security services have
continuously waged a military operation against the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliated groups, as part of the
ongoing government operation across the region.
Whiteman
spoke to the weeping mother of 17-year-old girl Rozerin Cukur. She
was killed in a military bombardment of Sur while she was visiting
the district with friends in early January. With access to the area
now cut off by the fighting, her body has never been recovered.
Sadly, she is one of many such cases.
Rozerin’s
father, Mustafa, could be found at a nearby memorial for the missing
dead.
“We
saw the news of her death reported on state TV and the internet. The
reports included Rozerin’s ID information, discovered beside her
body,” the father told RT.
Through
hunger striking, the families here have managed to pressure the
government into returning just two of the missing bodies. But the
condition they were in was appalling.
“Of
the bodies that have been recovered, parts of their flesh and
internal organs had been eaten by a stray dog,” Mustafa said. “The
bodies were riddled with thousands of bullet holes. It seems that the
military continued to shoot them long after they were dead.”
“They
were only identifiable through DNA testing,” Mustafa claimed.
RT
spoke to the co-presidents of the local Kurdish People’s Democratic
Party (HDP) branch about the plight of these families.
“Of
the local residents killed in Sur, 14 bodies are yet to be recovered.
They have been lying in the open for a long time, first under the
siege, and now under the curfew,” Ömer Önen, co-president of HDP
office of Diyarbakir, told RT. “Without the bodies, the families
have been unable to hold funerals.”
Önen
explained that by denying the people in Diyarbakir the right to give
their loved ones a traditional Islamic burial, the Turkish government
is violating human rights and the sanctity of religious traditions.
RT
Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of aiding sarin gas delivery to rebels after chemical attacks http://on.rt.com/76jh
Every
Saturday in Diyarbakir, the families of people who disappeared during
the peak of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict in the 1980s and ‘90s
gather to demand information on their missing loved ones. Now they
are being joined by the families of new victims, with Rozerin’s
parents among them.
Previously
RT showed exclusive footage from the city of Cizre, destroyed by
Turkish government forces during an anti-Kurdish military operation
that ended there only two days ago.
The
Turkish government offensive on the mostly Kurdish southeastern
regions of the country was launched back in July of 2015 with strict
24-hour curfews imposed on several Kurdish towns.
On
Friday RT requested comments on the ongoing anti-Kurdish crackdown in
Turkey from aid groups and rights organizations, such as HRW, MSF
International, the ICRC, the OHCHR, and Amnesty International. There
has been no answer so far.
In
the meantime, Turkey has claimed it will continue its operations
against Kurdish militia – to ensure peace in the region.
“We
will continue our operations to eliminate the PKK. This is necessary
to ensure peace in the region,” said Efkan Ala, the Turkish
interior minister.
‘We are afraid but won’t leave our land’ - Syrian Kurds who survived Turkish shelling to RT http://on.rt.com/76cf
Washington
says Ankara has the right to fight terrorists, but only within
international law.
“While
we have certainly acknowledged Turkey’s right to defend itself
against terrorists, and the PKK is a terrorist organization that we
have recognized [as such], we have also, and I’ve said it many
times from this podium, called on [Turkey] to do so in accordance
with the international law and obligations that they [Turkey] have,”
US State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
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