Silopi ( ku, Silopî) is a city and district of Şırnak Province in Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region, close to the borders of Iraq and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. The majority of its people are of ethnic Kurds. The district, composed of Silopi center, three townships with their own municipalities, and 23 villages, has an urban population of 73,400 (2009 census). The mayor Adalet Fidan of the HDP, who was elected in 2019, was deposed the same year and replaced by the sub-governor ( kaymakam) Sezer Işiktaş as a "state-appointed caretaker" (acting mayor). The

Habur frontier gate Ibrahim Khalil ( ku, دەروازەی ئیبراھیم خەلیل, ar, منفذ إبراهيم الخليل الدولي) is a Iraq–Turkey border, border crossing point between Turkey and Iraq. It is also called the Habur Border or Frontier Ga ...

, the only major crossing between Turkey and Iraq, is in the district of Silopi and is a decisive factor in the region's economy. Queues of lorries waiting for customs and security clearance that sometimes reach a few dozen kilometers on the motorway connecting the two countries are a common sight. The Khabur River, which carries the same name as the frontier gate, crosses in the district territory and joins the Tigris here. The Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline also crosses the district.

History

Turkish authorities placed the city of Silopi under curfew from 14 December 2015 – 4 January 2016. According to the

Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey) The Peoples' Democratic Party ( Turkish: ''Halkların Demokratik Partisi'', acronymized as HDP; Kurdish: ''Partiya Demokratîk a Gelan''), or Democratic Party of the Peoples, is a pro- minority political party in Turkey. Generally left-wing, the ...

, 20 people were killed. Since July 2015, 34 people have been killed in Silopi. On August 7, 2015, clashes between Turkish security forces and the Kurdish militant PKK group may have killed three people. Government reports claimed "terrorists" were killed, while pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party lawmaker

Faysal Sarıyıldız Faysal Sarıyildiz (born 10 April 1975, Cizre) is a politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former Member of Parliament representing the Sırnak Province. Education and early life He studied mechanical engineering at the Un ...

said that the casualties were civilians and that he had seen no sign of armed militants, according to Reuters. The Kurdish-Turkish conflict in the region has escalated since late July 2015.

Employment

Şırnak Silopi power station Şırnak Silopi power station ( tr, Şırnak-Silopi Termik Santralı) is a 405 MW operational power station in Silopi, in Şırnak Province in the south-east of Turkey. It is fuelled with asphaltite. Operation The plant was built in the early ...

is powered by asphaltite coal and is claimed both to emit air pollution and to be an important source of employment. In 2020 the EBRD proposed a

just transition Just transition is a framework developed by the trade union movement to encompass a range of social interventions needed to secure workers' rights and livelihoods when economies are shifting to sustainable production, primarily combating climat ...

to support workers who may lose jobs due to the decline of coal in Turkey. Peanuts are grown.

References

External links

Governorship of Şırnak

Şırnak local newspaper
Populated places in Şırnak Province Districts of Şırnak Province Kurdish settlements in Turkey {{Şırnak-geo-stub

History

Employment

See also

References

External links