Military operations to expand to ?dil, Nusaybin, minister says

While military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are coming to an end in the southeastern town of Cizre, they will be intensified in the region's ?dil and Nusaybin districts, according to Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala.

Responding to a question on whether the Education Ministry's invitation to 1,200 teachers in ?dil to come to a seminar in Istanbul via text message was a sign the operations would expand to ?dil in southeastern ??rnak province, the minister said they would clear all barricades and ditches in the district.

"These clearings will be done. There are [terrorists in ?dil], as well. The operations will not take place only if the terrorists lay down their arms and fill the ditches," he said while speaking to reporters late Feb. 9. Ala also said they would intensify the operations in the Nusaybin district in southeastern Mardin province.

Meanwhile, Ala said the operations held in ??rnak's Cizre district were nearing completion. The operations in the Sur district of southeastern Diyarbak?r province would continue for a while, he also added. 

The minister's remarks came on the same day daily Hürriyet reported security forces were expected to expand the scope of ongoing anti-terror operations in Southeastern Anatolia by including ?dil, Nusaybin and the Yüksekova district of Hakkari.

Jointly carried out by the military and police, the operations were first launched in the Sur, Cizre and Silopi districts of ??rnak in mid-December 2015, as the fight against the PKK turned urban. Security officials and government members have said the operations in Silopi and Sur were to conclude soon, while efforts to "clear Cizre of terrorists" would continue. 

Security officials told Hürriyet...