Sit-in started against 'security cottages' in Dargeçit
MARDİN (DİHA) - Locals in Dargeçit district, have started a sit-in of the highway against the construction of military installations.
The district of Dargeçit (Kerboran in Kurdish) includes areas that would be flooded by a planned dam on the Tigris River. The same dam, called the Ilısu Dam, would flood the ancient city of Hasankeyf and other important historical sites nearby. The planned dam is among many so-called "security dams" that the Turkish state is planning for military purposes. Security dams are designed to constrict mobility and disrupt rural areas in Kurdistan with a history of being contested by the guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). These dams have been planned and constructed despite ongoing peace negotiations with the PKK.
The Ilısu Dam construction process has been marked by heightened militarization of the area. The Turkish state started preparations for the dam in 2006 and 2007. Soon after, around 20 police sentry posts went up. Now, construction has begun on a number of military installations given the euphemistic name of "security cottages," built along the local ring road. The state has been seizing private lands to build the installations.
When construction began on three more security cottages, the citizens in the town of Dargeçit decided they had had enough. Yesterday, they started a sit-in on the ring road where security cottages are being built. The Peace Mothers, a group of mostly elderly women who work for peace in Kurdistan, organized the sit-in. Zeynep Sipçik, the female co-mayor of Dargeçit, has joined the demonstrators.
Soldiers quickly blockaded the area yesterday. Armored cars and riot control vehicles were also deployed to the area.
(cm/nt)
