Displaced by fighting, Kurdish residents call for peace
The 70-year-old Kurdish woman is among tens of thousands displaced by fighting raging between Turkish security forces and militants in the southeast after a peace process collapsed in the summer.
Calis and her family fled from their home about two months ago with only the clothes they were wearing from one district in the city of Diyarbakir to the relative safety of another.
Besides fearing for her life, she was also faced with round-the-clock curfews and being left without food, electricity or water.
A two-and-a-half year peace process between the government and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, collapsed in July, reviving three decades of conflict that has cost more than 40,000 lives.
Turkish security forces, backed by tanks, have embarked on large-scale operations to root out Kurdish militants and imposed round-the-clock curfews in several municipalities, displacing tens of thousands of people — mostly Kurds.
Human rights advocates have also voiced concern over the fate of around 20 people who were reportedly wounded during the fighting in Cizre last month and allegedly stranded in the basement of an apartment.
A pro-Kurdish party has accused the government of denying them medical assistance while the government says ambulances and medical teams haven't been able to reach the wounded because of militant attacks.
When authorities lifted the siege in Sur for a few hours two months ago to allow residents to buy provisions or leave the neighborhood, Calis, her daughter-in-law and six grandchildren, fled along with about 45 of her neighbors.