Kurdish exodus from Susurluk

  Apr 14, 2001
  Ankara- Turkish Daily News

   The Kurdish-descent Turks living in the district of Susurluk, Balikesir have begun to
   move out in response to provocation following the discovery of the body of an
   11-year-old girl in the basement of a house occupied by a citizen of Kurdish-descent
   about a week ago. According to the newspaper Ozgur Politika, known to be close to the
   PKK, four such families have announced they will hire a wagon from Susurluk station
   and leave the town. According to the newspaper report, another four families of Kurdish
   origin want to move out of their villages in the Susurluk district but do not know where to
   go.

   Despite assurances from the local school headmaster, the Kurdish-descent families are
   not sending their children to school for fear of reprisals. Workplaces have been
   threatened into firing employees of Kurdish origin, said the report.

   Poorer Kurdish-descent families are reportedly staying only because they do not have
   the means to leave. Families say that members of the Nationalist Movement Party
   (MHP) are threatening the local population and intimidating them into not doing
   business with the Kurdish-origin citizens.

   Furthermore, the Peoples Democracy Party (HADEP) Mayor of Balikesir Ali Yaman has
   stated that Kurdish-descent tradesmen managed to open stall at a market in Susurluk
   the other day despite being obstructed. Yaman said they had applied to the police and
   the municipality for permission to set up the stalls and the police were very
   noncommittal, whereas the municipality was more positive in its approach. Authorities
   had asked the tradesmen not to open stall at the market, but the economic crisis forces
   them to return so they can pay off their debts.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com