Marked houses are not an uncommon sight in the Nusaybin district of southeastern Mardin province. These houses belong to the families who are known to oppose the PKK's life crippling policies that include digging ditches, barricading roads and clashing with security forces. The PKK marks their homes, in a sense, singles them out, to pressure them to leave. Reports claim that the terrorists benefit from abandoned houses, settling into them and using them in clashes. Security forces have continuously carried out operations in the district since a curfew was imposed on Nov. 13 and forces are in efforts to fill in the ditches, remove barricades and neutralize explosives as well as purge the area of terrorists.Security forces have continuously carried out operations in the district since a curfew was imposed on Nov. 13 and forces are in efforts to fill in the ditches, remove barricades and neutralize explosives as well as purge the area of terrorists.Reportedly several houses and stores, along with water pipes and power lines were demolished by explosives that were planted by the PKK, leading to problems with the water and electricity supply.Locals have stood against the PKK after being exposed to heavy pressure.Sources said that almost 50 trained PKK militants came to Silvan, Diyarbakır in a month to prevent a repeat of the failure it had in Hakkari's Yüksekova district and Diyarbakır's Sur district and hence armed around 2,500 youths. However, reports say that the families of 2,300 of those youths returned the supplied arms and left Silvan. There was also a similar incident in Yüksekova in which 1,200 people reportedly handed back weapons.Some members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) have made remarks – deemed controversial by some – regarding the PKK's policies and its Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD). HDP members said the PKK carrying the war into city centers was wrong and they disapprove of the activities of the PKK's youth branch, the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H).On top of that, it is expected as the new government has an avenue of approach against the PKK, YDG-H and the umbrella organization Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), in which the counterterror grapple will be intensified. Formed in 1978, the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S., EU and Turkey, had been fighting the Turkish state for an independent Kurdistan until the early 2000s. The group then shifted its goal to autonomy in the predominately Kurdish inhabited regions of Turkey.