Turkey imposes curfew on Kurdish towns

Turkey on Sunday slaps a curfew on two border towns in the Kurdish-dominated southeast ahead of a looming military “clean-up” operation as it eased a lockdown in Diyarbakir.

Turkish troops have been waging a major — and controversial — offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since December, imposing strict 24-hour curfews in a number of towns and cities in the southeast.

Ankara has repeatedly imposed curfews for military operations in southeastern urban centers, and on Sunday said restrictions would be slapped on two more towns — Yuksekova, near the Iranian border, and Nusaybin, on the frontier with Syria.

The aim was to “restore order and security” following an increase in “terrorist activity,” local authorities said.

— AFP