People in Yüksekova district of Hakkari have closed their shops today in protest at the visit of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu who will attend the opening ceremony of an airport in the district. 99% of the shutters in the district remain closed today.

While there has been an intense military activity in the district before the visit of the Turkish president and the prime minister, all the shops except the bakeries are closed in the town centre and on the route where the Turkish president and the PM will pass by. HDP flags have been hanged all around the town centre and the route and its surroundings a week before the visit, while special military units have hung AKP flags in between the HDP ones in the town centre and in front of the City Hall that the Turkish president and the PM are expected to visit. Extra CCTV cameras have also been installed at many points of the town.

Many inhabitants have hung black flags from their windows, while a big banner with pictures of HDP co-chairs, Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, which reads “Say Yes to Great Humanity” has been hung on the Hotel Oslo in the town centre. Moreover, “Martyrs are immortal” is written on the shutters of many shops, while the town centre is also full of banners of the HDP and pictures of its candidates.

In the meantime, armoured vehicles have been stationed on all the streets on the road to the airport, where also two check points have been also stationed. Additional police force have been deployed and stationed in the town centre where helicopters are also flying. Meanwhile, 20 buses coming from outside of the town have passed to the airport, however no information could be obtained as to who is in the buses as the windows were blacked out.

Intense security measures have been taken around the airport which has been besieged by thousands of police and anti-terror teams.