ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—People of the two Kurdish towns of Gavar and Cizre in Turkey were happy about a recent government decision to change the status of their towns to provinces, but in the meantime they remain a little suspicious about the motive. On August 2, the Turkish parliament approved a bill proposed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to turn both towns into provinces. The same bill aims to change the status of Hakkari and Sirnak from province to towns along with their names to Colemerg and Noah. The bill had many reactions from the people of the areas and the parliamentary leader Idris Balkuen. “That is an undemocratic decision because no one has taken the opinion of the people who live there,” said Idris Bulken, an MP from the Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). The initial proposal for changing the legal and administrative status of the towns and cities was made by the Turkish military and the country’s national security council. “Turning Gavar and Cizre to a province is not for improving the situation in those two towns but to practice military and security politics,” Bulken added. Abdullah Ekanji, a lawyer and resident of Sirnak said that it was unfair for the local population to downgrade their province into a town after so many years. “Almost 26 years ago Sirnak became a province and now is being turned into a town,” he told Rudaw. There are many towns in western Turkey waiting to become a province while the Turkish government announced to turn those towns to a province where it is the center of war between Turkish army and PKK. This decision has left many with question marks. Journalist Mehmut Boz Arsalan believes it is a purely military purpose to alter the status of these Kurdish towns, especially when many other towns and cities in western Turkey have petitioned for years to be made provinces to no avail. The area listed for administrative change has been going through a year of intense battle and street fight between the Turkish military and members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Farhad Anjo, a representative of Sirnak in the Turkish Parliament believes that the government decision to make Sirnak from a province to a mere town is a form of punishment against the local population. “The country plans to punish the people of Sirnak by making it a town, claiming that they are unfaithful towards the country,” Anjo said. Arsalan believes that the proposed changes have been made years ago and that they are part of the government and army’s plan for a better control of routes used by Kurdish fighters and their proximity to the Iranian border. “The map for this plan has been drawn years ago to control the main roads between Kurdistan and Iran,” he said. “It has a security purpose and improving the situation of the area.”
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