Reconstruction work brings more gloom to southeast Turkey
Renovation work has begun in the emptied, conflict-ravaged old city of Diyarbakir, where the government's restoration project is being criticized as a security move rather than an effort to preserve internationally acknowledged historic sites.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — When Hilmi Akyol returned to his neighborhood four months after fleeing clashes between the Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants, he found his street leveled, all its buildings razed to the ground. He found his one-time home by the greenery of two tons of sprouting wheat.
“I had bought two tons of wheat for the hens and pigeons I used to keep. When I returned after four months, I found the wheat sprouting in the rubble,” Akyol told Al-Monitor. “There was nothing left on our street — a street 200 or 300 meters long with absolutely nothing on it.”
Similar sights have greeted many other Kurdish residents of Diyarbakir’s historic district of Sur, which remains sealed off 10 months after a devastating security crackdown ended there in March 2016.
Once bustling streets lined with residential buildings and shops are nothing more than flattened terrain today. Even though life in Sur had long ground to a halt, a round-the-clock curfew remains in place to keep civilians away as the demolition of damaged buildings continues. The area looks like the site of an urban transformation project.
