HAKKARİ - Women who have become unable to continue their daily lives in the Mergan hamlet of Çukurca, on the border line where pressure has increased with the attacks against Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna, stated that they are imprisoned in their homes.

 

The attacks launched on Zap, Avaşîn and Metina on April 17 by the joint operation of Turkey and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) continue with intense clashes. With the operation, the villages on the border line where a military build-up was made were also faced with intense pressure. Women living in the hamlet of Mergan in the village of Gêman, adjacent to the border of the Federated Kurdistan Region, spoke about the difficulties they experienced.

 

THEY ARE CONFINED IN THEIR OWN VILLAGE

 

Esmer Demir, one of the women living in the hamlet, stated that their lives are getting more and more difficult with the increasing military pressure. Expressing that they could not even feed their animals due to the prohibitions, Demir said: “Our sheep graze inside the village, not around it. These pastures are simply not enough. Our lives have always been under this kind of pressure. We have been banned from going to the highlands due to the conflicts and operations. We cannot do farming in any way. We want these pressures to end immediately.”

 

THE AIM IS TO DISPLACE THE PEOPLE

 

Stating that every time they went to the highlands they encounter the pressure of the soldiers, Demir said: "They are banning us from our own lands. We are confined to our villages. This is tyranny. They don't allow us to go anywhere except the village center. I have been living here for 18 years. It has always been so. They are trying to starve us and they aim to displace us, make us migrate.  We will not leave our village. A person is born once and die once. We will leave our lands when we die."

 

'WE CAN'T GO OUT OF OUR HOUSE'  

 

Another woman living in the village, Fatma Demir who stated that she has been living in that village for 20 years said: "We used to graze our animals at the highlands. Now we can't leave our houses in fear of the soldiers. Not being able to graze our animals effects our economy. We can't take care of our children. "

 

Stating that the operation against Federated Kurdistan Region effects them as well, Demir said that the whole village has turned into a military zone. Underlining that their children can't go out to play due to the military mobility in the vicinity, Demir said: "These our our lands but we can not go anywhere. The surrounding area of our village is banned to us due to the war."