Residents of Cizre who were forced to leave their homes due to the rising violence in the region are now returning to the town. A Sputnik correspondent took pictures showing Cizre residents returning to their homes.
Turkey began enforcing a curfew in Kurdish regions of southeastern Turkey last December.
The move has come under harsh criticism from rights groups and led to massive protests within the affected communities.
"It is known that in Diyarbakir's Sur, the military is conducting an operation. That is, there is now a real war. Similarly, in Cizre, where, according to our estimates, the military has killed more than 200 civilians. The death toll among the civilian population in the area Sur already stands at about 100 people. In addition, about 130 people are injured and waiting to be saved," head of Turkey's Human Rights Association Öztürk Türkdoğan told Sputnik.
On February 11, Turkey's Interior Minister Efkan Ala said that Turkish security forces had finalized the anti-terrorist operation in Cizre.
In summer 2015, Turkey initiated a military campaign against the PKK militant group in the country's southeastern regions, mostly inhabited by Kurds.
Since the beginning of the campaign, Ankara has imposed several round-the-clock curfews, preventing civilians from fleeing the regions where the military operations are taking place.
The death toll during special operations in Turkey’s Kurdistan could reach upwards to 5,000 people.
According to Kurdish politicians, the issue of Turkey’s Kurdistan needs to be brought before the UN Security Council.
The issue of Kurdish nationalism has for a long time been problematic for Turkey, with the country's security forces locked in a 40-year conflict with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants — a battle which has intensified once again in the past eight months.
