18 June 2018•Update: 20 June 2018
SIRNAK, Turkey
Turkey has extended a helping hand to almost 70,000 people in terror-hit southeastern Sirnak province of the country since 2004 by paying more than 1 billion Turkish liras ($520 million) as compensation.
Some 83,322 people whose houses, workplaces, vehicles and lands were damaged, or who lost their families and relatives, or who were abducted and thus suffered from financial damage, have applied for compensation following a 2004 law on terror.
Some 1.3 billion Turkish liras ($677 million) have been paid to 69,282 people, while the applications of 14,038 people were declined in Sirnak, which has seen fierce clashes between Turkish security forces and PKK terrorist organization for 30 years.
The 14-year average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate was around 1.92 in the 2004-2017 period according to Turkish Central Bank.
Turkey has also paid almost 700 million Turkish liras ($148.3 million) in rents for 57,664 people in the city of Sirnak and Cizre, Silopi and Idil districts in the last three years.
Recalling the grievance of residents in the Cizre, Silopi and Idil districts in 2016 when terrorists dug trenches in the streets, Sirnak Governor Mehmet Aktas told Anadolu Agency that Turkey covered the losses incurred by the citizens.
Bahar Hazar is one of the victims whose house was damaged after an explosion.
Hazar recalled how residents were unable to take the sick to hospitals and children to school due to the trenches.
Hazar said they left the city and had to live in another place for eight months.
The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015.
Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.
Reporting by Ekrem Payan:Writing by Sibel Ugurlu
