Turkey police kill two ‘female terrorists’ in Istanbul

 Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee Sur, a historic district of Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the southeast, CNN Turk said based on a report from the HDP.

Protesters and stunned tourists used lemons and soft drinks to neutralize the effects of the tear gas.

A report released Tuesday documented 15 civilian deaths during 24-hour curfews in September and November, noting that these were just a “sample” and called for a full investigation. Provincial authorities have slapped extended curfews on flashpoint neighborhoods and towns of the south, a measure they see as necessary to facilitate security operations.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that Turkey needs to control its security forces and investigate the deaths of civilians who were killed during police operations and clashes with armed groups in recent months.

The report said the pair were part of a cell linked to a mysterious bomb attack on December 1 near an Istanbul metro station that wounded up to half a dozen people.

Meanwhile, protests took place Sunday in Istanbul and in Diyarbakir, the de facto capital and largest city in the Kurdish southeast, as protesters demanded an end to the military operations. Originally, the group sought to form an independent Kurdish state but now it says it aims to restore Kurdish rights and a degree of autonomy. In towns throughout the southeast massive security operations are under way against an armed movement, the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), associated with the PKK. While the army said that 127 Kurdish militants had been killed in a week of special operations, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said that at least 23 civilians had been killed in the violence.

Troops were conducting operations to remove PKK trenches and barricades in the under-curfew district. Imposing open-ended, round-the-clock curfews in entire neighbourhoods or towns until further notice represents a massive restriction of some of the most fundamental human rights of a huge population. The three-decade conflict between Turkish security forces and the PKK rebels have claimed the lives of more than 30,000 people.