YPS withdraws from Nusaybin to protect civilians

[Anthea]

Kurdish YPS withdraws from Turkey's Nusaybin to protect civilians

The Kurdish Civil Protection Unit (YPS) of Nusaybin, Turkey have announced today that they are withdrawing from the city in order to protect the civilian population and to avoid a similar massacre as took place in the city of Cizre.

“Under circumstances in which Turkish state forces are ruthlessly destroying the city, it has been decided to change our position,” a statement from the YPS General Coordination reads. “In that regard, our forces have withdrawn successfully from Nusaybin to their bases.”

The Kurdish city of Nusaybin has been under a military curfew since March 14. The Turkish military has imposed curfews on numerous cities and towns in the southeast of the country as it carries out operations it claims are against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and affiliated militant groups.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed, according to monitoring groups, and nearly one million have been internally displaced throughout the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country.

The YPS stresses that there are no armed units remaining in Nusaybin and they “call upon the people of Mardin [province] and the international community to intervene on behalf of the civilians who are still under siege in Alika neighbourhood [of Nusaybin].”

One woman from Alika neighbourhood in Nusaybin, Yasemin Erkol, spoke by telephone to Turkish Med Nuçe channel, saying that she is with 35 trapped civilians, mainly children and women, many of whom are wounded.

"We don't have any opportunity to see and connect with anybody. We cannot get out from here and we call for help. There is consistently gunfire,” Erkol said. “There are seriously wounded people. There is a person who is bleeding. We cannot stop the bleeding. There isn't water and food. The children are depressed due to the ongoing situation."

In February, over 100 civilians trapped for days in basements in Cizre were killed in what many have described as a massacre.

The YPS, in their statement, asserts that they want to avoid a second similar massacre occurring in Nusaybin and so have chosen to withdraw.

The YPS called their resistance in Nusaybin, which lasted 72 days, a success stating that the fact that they lasted against the Turkish military for so many days is a sign of a success in their struggle for Kurdish autonomy.

Turkish media is reporting that 42 PKK members surrendered to security forces in Nusaybin today.

Kurdish media in Turkey, however, is reporting that 42 civilians, including women and children, were evacuated by People’s Democratic Party (HDP) MPs and taken to the Nusaybin Police Department.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/260520161