page_title: Cizre
section_title: Late 20th century and contemporary period
hierarchical_section_title: Cizre / History / Late 20th century and contemporary period
context_page_description: Cizre is a city and district in Şırnak Province in southeastern Turkey. It is located on the river Tigris, by the Syria–Turkey border, and in the historical region of Upper Mesopotamia.
  In Kurdish culture, Cizre is presented as the setting of the tale of Mem and Zin.
context_section_description: Cizre received electricity and running water in the mid-1950s. In the 1960s, the infrastructure of the city was developed as a new bridge, municipal buildings, and new roads were constructed and streets were widened, and amenities such as a public park named after Atatürk and a cinema were built.
  Roughly 60 people were detained and tortured for 20 days by Turkish police after the killing of two Turkish policemen in Cizre on 13 January 1989. The economy of Cizre was severely disrupted by the eruption of the Gulf War as trade with Iraq was embargoed and the border was closed, resulting in the closure of 90% of shops in the city. Kurdish militants clashed with Turkish security forces in Cizre on 18 June 1991, and five Turkish soldiers and one militant were killed, according to official reports, however Amnesty International reported the death of one civilian also. On 21 March 1992, a pro-PKK demonstration to celebrate Nowruz in contravention of a state ban was dispersed by Turkish soldiers, and led to violence as Kurdish militants retaliated, resulting in the death of 26-30 people. Properties in Cizre were damaged by Turkish soldiers in two shootouts against PKK militants in August and September 1993, and three militants were killed.
  Riots erupted in Cizre in October 2014 in response to the Turkish government's decision to prohibit Kurds from travelling to Syria to participate in the Syrian Civil War. It is claimed that 17 Kurds from Cizre fought and died in the Siege of Kobanî. The YDG-H, the militant youth wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), subsequently erected blockades, ditches, and armed checkpoints, and carried out patrols in several neighbourhoods to block the movement of Turkish police. A military operation was launched by the Turkish Armed Forces to reestablish control over the city on 4 September 2015, and a curfew was imposed. An estimated 70 YDG-H militants responded with rocket-propelled and grenade attacks on Turkish soldiers. In the operation, the Turkish Ministry of the Interior claimed 32 PKK militants and 1 civilian had been killed, whereas the HDP argued 21 civilians were killed. On 10 September, a group of 30 HDP MPs led by leader Selahattin Demirtaş were denied entry to the city by the police. The curfew was briefly relaxed on 11 September, but was reimposed after two days.
  On 14 December 2015, Turkish military operations resumed in Cizre, and the curfew was renewed. The military operation continued until 11 February, but the curfew was maintained until 2 March. During the clashes between 24 July 2015 and 30 June 2016 at Cizre, the Turkish Armed Forces claimed 674 PKK militants were killed or captured, and 24 military and police officers were killed. The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects reported that four neighbourhoods were completely destroyed, with 1200 buildings severely damaged and approximately 10,000 buildings damaged, and c. 110,000 people fled the district. The Turkish government announced plans in April 2016 to rebuild damaged 2700 houses in a project estimated to cost 4 billion Turkish lira. The Turkish physician Dr Şebnem Korur Fincanci was arrested and imprisoned on charges of involvement in the propaganda of terrorism by the Turkish government on 20 June 2016 as a consequence of her report on conditions in Cizre after the end of the curfew in March 2016; she was later acquitted in July 2019.
  On 26 August 2016, 11 policemen were killed and 78 people were injured by a car bomb at a police checkpoint planted by the PKK, and the nearby riot police headquarters was severely damaged. The Turkish government banned journalists and independent observers from entering the city to report on the attack.
caption: The district of Cizre in the province of Şırnak.
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