Tensions in the southeast of Turkey have been simmering for months as security forces have been battling Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants after a ceasefire collapsed in July.
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The authorities have allowed only a single break in the curfew of less than a full day on December 11, allowing some trapped residents to leave the area.
Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara that security forces would crack down on the PKK militants to frustrate efforts to “spread the fire” from Iraq and Syria to Turkey.
The move comes amid a series of indeterminate curfews recently imposed in the southeastern towns of Cizre and Silopi in rnak province.
But the government insists the curfews are needed to ensure the safety of citizens during essential operations.
“In this ring of fire, we will turn both Cizre and Silopi and all our districts, and every piece of our homeland into an area of peace, stability and freedom”, he said.
Two people were killed as police clashed with crowds protesting against a security crackdown in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir, a hospital official and witnesses said.
Media reports say thousands of police and soldiers were deployed to the two towns, near Turkey’s border with Iraq.
The army said in a statement that six members of the security forces had received non-life threatening wounds in Cizre while two had also been hurt in Silopi. Shopkeepers shuttered their stores ahead of the protest, which the government said was banned.
HDP Co-chair Figen Yüksekdağ said on Tuesday that 200,000 people have been displaced in the Southeast in recent months as a result of conflicts hitting areas under curfew, accusing the government of conducting a war against Kurds. Meanwhile, Turkey has joined a new Saudi-led coalition of 34 mainly Muslim nations that has vowed to fight Islamic State across the Middle East and North Africa.
The pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party says at least 63 civilians are killed by security forces’ operations during curfews which were applied in 17 places since August.
“This time, the emphasis in operations will be more on soldiers”, he said. “There are people living in these houses”, she said.
Peace talks between its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and the state ground to a halt early this year.
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The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
