Mardin and Sirnak- Northern Kurdistan: Kurdish people in Mardin and Sirnak launched a general strike against the ongoing military operations of Turkish Army. In Sirnak a 14 year old child was crashed by an armoured police vehicle and for the past three days people have been protesting at the police violence and army operations. Only bakeries and pharmacies were opened and the streets look deserted.
In Sirnak clashes erupted between Kurdish guerrillas and Turkish military forces, police has raided many houses. There is a tense situation in the city.
The Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK) has long called on Turkey to halt their military operations and engage in dialogue with the Kurdish side to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in a war-torn country. The PKK declared unilateral ceasefire in March 2009 and protracted it four times to open doors for a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem. In 2009 the PKK also sent two peaces groups to Turkey to push through the jammed political procedures. But the Turkish Authorities are adamant in their classical policies of denial and the eradication of the Kurds within which they have continued military operations in Kurdistan.