Two years after the end of counterterrorism operations, the people of Şırnak, a southeastern province plagued by PKK violence, are getting ready to resettle as thousands of new houses are being built as part of a major rebuilding project.
Starting in 2015, the terrorist PKK held the province somewhat captive after the group's sympathizers dug ditches on streets and militants launched attacks on police and soldiers. More than half of the apartment buildings were damaged in the ensuing clashes, and some were completely destroyed in bombings. Over a period of eight months, 6,500 apartments were damaged in the province, where a large number of civilians and security personnel fell victim to PKK terrorism.
In the aftermath of the counterterrorism operations that wiped out most of the PKK presence in the province, authorities initiated a massive rebuilding project, clearing up the rubble all around the province and modernizing the province's infrastructure. The government built some 5,730 housing units, 300 stores, three mosques and two social facilities.
Deputy Provincial Governor and acting Şırnak Mayor Turhan Bedirhanoğlu said the province was heavily damaged by the PKK. "It [the terror campaign] also destroyed infrastructure, from the water network to power grid and sewer system. We worked hard to clear the rubble. Now, we have nearly completed the construction of new housing units. People whose houses were destroyed will have new homes by late October," he said. Bedirhanoğlu said that all of Şırnak "looked like a construction site," and the province became a modern place. "We renovated everything," he says, adding that they also plan to launch a natural gas grid in the province later this year.
Apart from housing units and infrastructure work, authorities built new parks and social facilities in the province, where even the streets were unsafe to walk in the past due to PKK threats.
"We installed new street lights and will open a vertical garden in central Şırnak. We have spent TL 2.5 million on a new park in the Gündoğdu neighborhood. I hope Şırnak will be an exemplary province in the region," he said.
Long-running efforts to rebuild the terror hit, devastated districts of southeastern provinces are yielding results through government-funded projects. Diyarbakır, another province wrecked by the PKK campaign, recently saw massive renovation and construction of new houses for locals who lost their homes in the terrorist attacks.
The PKK, which claims to fight for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey, long sought to draw support from the region where an ethnic Kurdish population is concentrated. Following a brief lull in its activities, the PKK renewed its campaign of violence in 2015, this time shifting its attacks on urban centers in the region rather than mountainous regions where the militants take shelters. As a result of successful counterterrorism operations, combined with the lack of cooperation from the people in the region, the PKK's strategy eventually collapsed.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. In its more than 30-year-long terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people, including women and children.
