Şemdinli (, or ) is a town located in the Şemdinli District of Hakkari Province in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and had a population of 18,220 in 2023. The current mayor is Tahir Saklı from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), elected in 2019. The town is populated by

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

of the Humaru and Zerzan

Kurdish tribes Kurdish tribes are tribes of Kurds, Kurdish people, an ethnic group from the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan in West Asia, Western Asia. The tribes are socio-political and generally also a territorial unit based on descent and kinship, real or ...

and moreover of mixed tribal and non-tribal origin.

Neighborhoods

Şemdinli is divided into the five neighborhoods of Beşevler, Karşıyaka, Moda, Yayla and Yeni.

Kurdish-Turkish conflict

Conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state forces

A bomb exploded in Şemdinli town centre on November 1, 2005. It was officially attributed to the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurds, Kurdish militant political organization and armed ...

(PKK), an armed Kurdish militant group. On November 9 one man was killed in a grenade attack on a local bookshop. The suspects of this attack, however, were caught in the act by bystanders. They were said to be members of a

Turkish Gendarmerie The Gendarmerie General Command () is the national gendarmerie force of the Republic of Turkey. It is a service branch of the Turkish Ministry of Interior responsible for the maintenance of the public order in areas that fall outside the jurisdi ...

unit, JITEM. The resulting investigation developed into a major political issue in Turkey in the first half of 2006. After a lengthy legal process the three suspects were eventually sentenced to 39 years. Investigations concerning the Şemdinli bombing trial were blocked by the military, and all the judges and prosecutor associated with the Şemdinli bookshop bombing case transferred from Van to other cities following a June 2007 decree.Retrograde Human Rights Trends and Stagnation of the Human Rights Reform Process
4th part of the

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

July 2007 report titled
Turkey: Human Rights Concerns in the Lead up to July Parliamentary Elections
.

Clashes in 2012

On 23 July 2012, Turkish security forces began a major security offensive, backed by airpower, against the PKK around Şemdinli. Interior minister, İdris Naim Şahin, explained that the forces were attempting to block the PKK's escape routes into northern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, and that as many as 115 PKK fighters had been killed. Television news channel, Nergis Televizyonu (NTV), claimed that up to two thousand troops were involved in the operation. On 5 August 2012, PKK forces fired on a Turkish military post in the village of Gecimli, triggering clashes that killed 22 fighters, soldiers and village guards, and injuring 15 others, including five civilians. The military post was one of a number attacked in

Hakkâri Province Hakkâri Province (, ; ), is a province in the southeast of Turkey. The administrative centre is the city of Hakkâri. Its area is 7,095 km2, and its population is 287,625 (2023). The current Governor is Ali Çelik. The province encompasses ...

, although there were no reports of casualties in the other incidents.

Population

Population history from 1997 to 2023:

Climate

Şemdinli has a hot, dry-summer continental climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dsa'').

References

External links

* Today's Zaman, 16 April 2013
European court orders Turkey to pay 1.4 million euros over Şemdinli raid
{{DEFAULTSORT:Semdinli Populated places in Hakkâri Province Şemdinli District Kurdish settlements in Hakkâri Province District municipalities in Turkey