Children workshop in Kurdish-majority city banned by state-appointed administrator

A Kurdish art workshop for children was banned by the state-appointed local administrator on Sunday in Turkey's Kurdish-majority city of Cizre.

The workshop to be held in a park was part of the Cizre Culture and Arts Festival, sponsored by the Confederation of Public Employees Unions (KESK).

It was announced by the local administration hours before the workshop that it would organize a children's event to replace the workshop, and the festival's visitors who arrived in the park this morning to attend the workshop were turned away by the police, Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) said.

The workshop was banned on allegations that a proper application had not been made by the organizers, and the area was cordoned off by the police, MA added.

A concert in the festival was also banned yesterday by the local administration.

KESK said in a protesting statement:

"Similar workshops had been held every week in several cities, and this is the first time we have been faced with an attitude of this kind. This is a totally arbitrary attitude. The organization of an event by the local administration at the same place and time is but a deliberate move to obstruct our workshop. This is an attitude in disregard of the local institutions and dynamics in this city; an attitude that defies the people's will."