With the outbreak of armed conflict in 1984 between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK), more than 1 million Kurds were forcibly evicted from rural and urban areas in eastern and south-eastern Turkey. The displaced settled in urban centres in the region as well as towns in western and southern Turkey, and many fled to Europe. By 1996 the state only retained control of south-east Turkey through the forced evacuation of over 3,000 Kurdish villages, consequently causing the destitution of 3 million people, with widespread and routine arrests and arbitrary torture common. (Source: Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Turkey : Kurds, 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749c9623.html [accessed 28 September 2010]) See also: http://www.hic-net.org/document.php?pid=2704

Back