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3 HDP MPs go on hunger strike as Turkish government extends curfew in North Kurdistan capital

Lawmakers asks Ankara to allow 23 people trapped to be rescued · Human Rights Foundation of Turkey blames government for civilian deaths

Left to right: Bestas, Baydemir and Baluken.
Left to right: Bestas, Baydemir and Baluken.
Three Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MPs have gone on a hunger strike to ask the Turkish government assistance to 23 people that have been trapped under a building in Cizre (North Kurdistan, Turkey) for five days, the pro-Kurdish party announced. The hunger strike coincided in time with Ankara's decision to extend a curfew in five new districts of the North Kurdhish capital city Amed (Diyarbakir).

Hunger strikers are HDP group co-chairman Idris Baluken, party co-deputy president Meral Danis Bestas, and former Amed mayor Osman Baydemir. The three politicians decided to launch the protest after negotiations with the Interior Ministry to ensure that Turkish security forces allow ambulances to reach the building failed. Baluken, Bestas and Baydemir say they will go on with the protest until all 23 people are rescued and brought to hospital.

The building disaster is yet another example of the destruction endured by many cities amid the conflict between the Turkish armed and security forces on the one side and PKK-linked guerrillas on the other. The day before yesterday the Turkish army claimed to have killed 11 Kurdish guerillas in Amed and 9 more in Cizre, while it admitted having lost 3 soldiers in the latter city. Yesterday, PKK-linked guerrillas killed another 4 other soldiers and police officers in Amed.

Turkish authorities yesterday extended a curfew already in force in Amed's Sur district to other areas in the city. Ankara argues it needs to do so since the guerrillas have placed several neighbourhoods under their control. According to Associated Press, the measure has led to the flight of at least 2,000 people from Sur. Those people will be joining more than 100,000 IDPs in North Kurdistan after six months of fighting, according to data told by local activists to Ara News.

According to data released by main North Kurdish guerrilla HPG, the 2015 death toll among the Turkish security forces reached 1,600, while the guerrillas themselves admitted having lost 220 members. Data offered by the Turkish presidency are completely opposed to HPG's: according to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 3,100 guerrillas were killed in 2015 while the Turkish forces lost 200 soldiers and police officers.

Furthermore, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey says 198 civilians have been killed between August 2015 and 21 January this year. The group's report is particularly critical of the Turkish state's role in the death toll. The report says 40 of those civilians died while staying at home -thus not violating curfews imposed-, and adds that between 11 December and 22 January at least 21 civilians died because they could not be assisted by health services "by reason of the blockings of security forces."

More than 1,200 academics -from Turkey and other countries- signed a manifesto calling the Turkish government to put an end to what the signatories understand is a "crime" and a "planned and deliberate massacre" against "Kurdish and other peoples in the region." On January 15, the Turkish police arrested 12 of the Turkish signatories, accusing them of "making propaganda for a terrorist organization" and "insulting the state."