Classical and early medieval period in 1908 Cizre is identified as the location of , a river crossing depicted on the , a Roman 4th/5th century map. The river crossing lay at the end of a Roman road that connected it with
Nisibis, and was part of the region of
Zabdicene. It was previously assumed by most scholars that
Bezabde was located at the same site of what would later become Cizre, but is now agreed to be at Eski Hendek, northwest of Cizre. Cizre was originally known as Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and was founded by and named after
al-Hasan ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab al-Taghlibi (),
Emir of Mosul, in the early 9th century, as recorded by
Yaqut al-Hamawi in ''Mu'jam al-Buldan''. The city was constructed in a bend in the river Tigris, and al-Hasan ibn Umar built a canal across the bend, placing the city on an island in the river, hence the city's name. Eventually, the original course of the river disappeared due to sedimentation and shifted to the canal, leaving the city on the west bank of the Tigris. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was situated to take advantage of trade routes from the direction of
Amid to the northwest,
Nisibin to the west, and Iran to the northeast. The city also functioned as a river port, and goods were transported by raft down the Tigris to Mosul and further south. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar supplanted the neighbouring city of Bezabde as its inhabitants gradually left for the new city, and was likely abandoned in the early 10th century. Medieval Islamic scholars recorded competing theories of the founder of the city as
al-Harawi noted in
Ziyarat that it was believed that Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was the second city founded by
Nuh (
Noah) after the
Great Flood. This belief rests on the identification of nearby
Mount Judi as the (place of descent) of
Noah's Ark. The
shahanshah Ardashir I of
Iran (180–242) was also considered a potential founder. In
Wafayāt al-Aʿyān,
Ibn Khallikan reported that
Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi () was considered by some to be responsible for the city's foundation, whilst he argued that Abd al-Aziz ibn Umar was the founder and namesake of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. The city was fortified in the 10th century at the latest. In the 10th century,
Ibn Hawqal in
Surat al-Ard described Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar as an entrepôt engaged in trade with the
Byzantine Empire,
Armenia, and the districts of
Mayyafariqin,
Arzen, and Mosul.
Abu Taghlib,
Hamdanid Emir of Mosul, allied himself with the
Buyid Emir
Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar of Iraq in his civil war against his cousin Emir
'Adud al-Dawla of Fars in 977 on the condition that Bakhtiyar hand over Abu Taghlib's younger brother Hamdan, who had conspired against him. Although Abu Taghlib had secured his reign by executing his rival brother Hamdan, the alliance quickly backfired following Adud al-Dawla's victory over Abu Taghlib and Bakhtiyar at
Samarra in the spring of 978 as he then annexed Hamdanid territory in upper Mesopotamia, and thus Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar came under Buyid rule, forcing Abu Taghlib to go into exile. Buyid control of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was cut short by the civil war that followed the death of Adud al-Dawla in 983 as it allowed the
Kurdish chief
Badh ibn Dustak to seize Buyid territory in upper Mesopotamia in the following year, and he was acknowledged as its ruler by the claimant Emir
Samsam al-Dawla. Bādh attempted to conquer Mosul in 990, and the Hamdanid brothers Abu Abdallah Husayn and Abu Tahir Ibrahim were sent by the Buyid Emir
Baha al-Dawla to repel the threat. The
Uqaylid clan agreed to aid the brothers against Bādh in return for the cities of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, Balad, and
Nisibin, and Bādh was subsequently defeated and killed. The leader of the Uqaylids,
Abu'l-Dhawwad Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab, secured control of the cities, and acknowledged Emir Baha al-Dawla as his sovereign. On Muhammad's death in 996, his brother and successor as emir,
al-Muqallad, asserted his independence, expelling the Buyid presence in the emirate, and thus ending Buyid suzerainty.
High medieval period Turkmen nomads arrived in the vicinity of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in the summer of 1042, and carried out raids in
Diyar Bakr and upper Mesopotamia. The
Marwanid emirate became a vassal of the
Seljuk Sultan
Tughril in 1056. In the summer of 1083, the former Marwanid vizier
Fakhr al-Dawla ibn Jahir persuaded the Seljuk Sultan
Malikshah to send him with an army against the Marwanid emirate, and eventually Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, the last remaining
Marwanid stronghold, was captured by the
Seljuk Turks in 1085. Although the Marwanid emirate was severely reduced, its final emir, Nasir al-Dawla Mansur, was permitted to continue to rule solely Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar under the Seljuk Sultanate from 1085 onwards. The
mamluk Jikirmish seized Mansur and usurped the emirate of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar on Mansur's death in January 1096. In late 1096, Jikirmish set out to relieve
Kerbogha's siege of Mosul following a request for aid from the Uqaylid emir
Ali ibn Sharaf al-Dawla of Mosul, but was defeated by Kerbogha's brother Altuntash, and submitted to him as a vassal. Sanjar Shah ruled until his murder by his son Ghazi in 1208, and was succeeded by his son
Mu'izz al-Din Mahmud. Mahmud successfully maintained Zengid control over Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar with the marriage of his son Al-Malik al-Mas'ud Shahanshah to the daughter of
Badr al-Din Lu'lu', who had overthrown the Zengids at Mosul, and usurped power for himself in 1233. The Grand Mosque of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was renovated during Mahmud's reign. In the early 13th century, the city's fort and madrasa are attested by Ibn al-Athir in
Al-Tārīkh al-bāhir fī al-Dawlah al-Atābakīyah bi-al-Mawṣil, and its mosque by Ibn Khallikan in
Wafayāt al-Aʿyān. According to the Arab scholar
Izz al-Din ibn Shaddad, the
Mongol Empire demanded 100,000
dinars in tribute from the ruler of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1251. The end of the Zengid dynasty was heralded by the death of Mahmud in 1251, as Badr al-Din Lu'lu' had Mahmud's successor Al-Malik al-Mas'ud Shahanshah killed soon after, and assumed control of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar.
Late medieval period of Cizre Badr al-Din Lu'lu' acknowledged Mongol suzerainty to secure his realm as early as 1252, and minted coins in the name of
Great Khan Möngke Khan in 1255 at the latest. He is also known to have had a mosque built at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. Badr al-Din became subject to the Mongol
Ilkhanate on
Hulagu Khan's assumption of the title
Ilkhan (subject khan) in 1256. Badr al-Din Lu'lu' died in July/August 1259, and his realm was divided between his sons, and Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was bequeathed to his son al-Malik Al-Mujahid Sayf al-Din Ishaq. The sons of Badr al-Din Lu'lu' chafed under Mongol rule and soon all had rebelled and travelled to
Egypt seeking military assistance as al-Muzaffar Ala al-Din Ali left
Sinjar in 1260,
al-Salih Rukn al-Din Ismail left
Mosul in June 1261, and finally Ishaq fled Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar for
Mamluk Egypt shortly afterwards. Prior to his flight, Ishaq extorted 700 dinars from the city's Christians, and news of his impending escape pushed the populace to riot against his decision to leave the city to the wrath of the Mongols. In Ishaq's absence, 'Izz ad-Din 'Aibag, Emir of
Amadiya, seized the city, and an attack by Abd Allah, Emir of
Mayyafariqin, was repelled. Jemal ad-Din Gulbag was appointed to govern Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, but he was later executed for conspiring with the city's former ruler Ishaq, and was replaced by Henan Isho, In the second half of the 13th century, Mongol gold, silver, and copper coins were minted at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and production there increased after Khan
Ghazan's (r. 1295–1304) reforms. It was later attested that the vizier
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani had planned to construct a canal from the Tigris by the city. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was visited by the Moroccan scholar
Ibn Battuta in 1327, and he noted the city's mosque, bazaar, and three gates. In 1326/1327, the city was granted as a fief to a Turkman chief, and Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar remained under his control until the disintegration of the Ilkhanate in 1335, soon after which it was seized by the
Bohtan clan in 1336/1337 with the aid of al-Ashraf,
Ayyubid Emir of
Hisn Kayfa. In the 1330s,
Hamdallah Mustawfi in
Nuzhat Al Qulub reported that Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar had an annual revenue of 170,200 dinars. The emirate of Hisn Kayfa had aimed to control Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar through the
Bohtan clan in providing military assistance to its capture and the marriage of a daughter to Izz ad-Din, Emir of Bohtan, but this was unsuccessful as the
Bohtan emirate developed the city and consolidated their rule, and eventually the emir of Hisn Kayfa attempted to take Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar by force in 1384/1385, but was repelled. The emirate of Bohtan submitted to the
Timurid Empire in 1400, after
Timur sacked Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in retribution for the emir having seized one of his baggage convoys. As punishment for the emir's refusal to participate in Timur's campaign in Iraq, the city was sacked by Timur's son
Miran Shah.
Early modern period and his retinue in
Jizra in 1602-03 (BNF, Turc 127).
Uzun Hasan usurped leadership of the
Aq Qoyunlu from his elder brother Jahangir in a coup at Amid in 1452, and set about expanding his realm by seizing Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1456, whilst the emir of Bohtan withdrew into the mountains. Rebellion and civil war followed the death of Uzun Hasan in 1478, and the emir of Bohtan retook Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar from the Aq Qoyunlu in 1495/1496. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar came under
Safavid suzerainty in the first decade of the 16th century, but after the Ottoman victory at the
battle of Chaldiran over Shah
Ismail I in 1514, Sultan
Selim I sent
Idris Bitlisi to the city and he successfully convinced the emir of
Bohtan to submit to the
Ottoman Empire. The emirate of Bohtan was incorporated into the empire as a
hükûmet (autonomous territory), and was assigned to the
eyalet (province) of
Diyarbekir upon its formation in 1515. Sayyid Ahmad ruled in 1535. Christian families from
Erbil found refuge and settled in Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1566. In the mid-17th century,
Evliya Çelebi visited Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar en route from Mosul to Hisn Kayfa, and noted the city possessed four
muftis and a
naqib al-ashraf, and its
qadis (judges) received a daily salary of 300
akçes. In the late 17th century, Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar is mentioned by
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in
Les Six Voyages de J. B. Tavernier as a location on the route to
Tabriz.
Late modern period The
Egyptian invasion of Syria in 1831-1832 allowed
Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz, Emir of
Soran, to expand his realm, and he seized Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1833. The
Ottoman response to Muhammad Pasha was delayed by the war with Egypt until 1836, in which year Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was retaken by an Ottoman army led by
Reşid Mehmed Pasha. Reşid deposed Sayf al-Din Shir, Emir of Bohtan and
mütesellim of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and he was replaced by
Bedir Khan Beg. In 1838, an Ottoman army was sent to Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar during the campaign to suppress the rebellion of Abdul Agha and Khan Mahmud in the vicinity of
Lake Van. The German adviser
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder accompanied the Ottoman army and reported back to the Ottoman government from Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in June 1838.
Bedir Khan Beg reportedly established a munitions and arms factory in the city. In 1842, as part of the centralisation policies of the
Tanzimat reforms, the
kaza (district) of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was attached to the
eyalet of
Mosul, whilst the
kaza of Bohtan, which constituted the remainder of the emirate, remained within the
eyalet of Diyarbekir, thus administratively dividing the emirate, and provoking Bedir Khan. The administrative reform aimed to increase Ottoman state revenue, but left the previously loyal emir disgruntled with the Ottoman state. Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was visited by the American missionary
Asahel Grant on 13 June 1843. Bedir Khan's
1843 and 1846 massacres in Hakkari led the British and French governments to demand his removal from power, and he was subsequently summoned to Constantinople, but Bedir Khan refused, and an Ottoman army was sent against him. The emir defeated the Ottoman army, and he declared the independence of the Emirate of Bohtan. Bedir Khan's success was brief as a large Ottoman army led by Osman Pasha, with
Omar Pasha and Sabri Pasha, marched against him, and his relative
Yezdanşêr defected and allowed for the Ottoman occupation of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. The Ottoman government unsuccessfully encouraged Bedir Khan to surrender, and the
vali (governor) of Diyarbekir wrote to the
Naqshbandi sheikhs İbrahim, Salih, and Azrail at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar to mediate in June 1847. Although Bedir Khan retook Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, the emir was forced to withdraw and surrendered on 29 July. As a consequence of Bedir Khan's rebellion, the emirate of Bohtan was dissolved and Yezdanşêr succeeded him as
mütesellim of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. Also, the
eyalet of Kurdistan was formed on 5 December 1847, and included the
kazas of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar and Bohtan. Yezdanşêr met with Lieutenant Colonel (later General)
Fenwick Williams at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1849 whilst he participated as the British representative in a commission to settle the Ottoman-Iranian border. Yezdanşêr was soon replaced by the
kaymakam Mustafa Pasha, sent away to Constantinople in March 1849, and forbidden from returning to Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. In 1852, the
iane-i umumiye (temporary tax) was introduced, and the
kaza of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was expected to provide 23,140
piastres. During the
Crimean War, in 1854, Yezdanşêr was ordered to recruit soldiers for the war, and 900 Kurds were recruited from Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar and Bohtan. Yezdanşêr claimed to be maltreated by local officials and revolted in November, with Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar under his control. He offered to surrender in January 1855 on the condition that he received the
kazas of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar and Bohtan, but this was rejected. An Ottoman army consisting of a regiment of infantry, a regiment of cavalry, and a battery of six guns was ordered to march on Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in February. In March, Yezdanşêr accepted terms offered by General Williams, the British military commissioner with the Ottoman Anatolian army, and surrendered. taken by
Pascal Sébah in 1873. The man on the right was from Cizre. In 1867, the
eyalet of Kurdistan was dissolved and replaced by the
Diyarbekir Vilayet, and Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar became the seat of a
kaza in the
sanjak of Mardin. The
kaza was subdivided into nine
nahiyes, and possessed 210 villages. Osman, son of Bedir Khan, seized Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in 1878 after his escape from captivity at Constantinople using demobilised Kurdish veterans of the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, and proclaimed himself as emir. The
rebellion endured for eight months until it was quelled by an Ottoman army led by Shevket Bey. The city was visited by the German scholar
Eduard Sachau in 1880. In the late 19th century, the French geographer
Vital Cuinet recorded in ''La Turquie d'Asie'' the city's five
caravanserais, one-hundred and six shops, ten cafés, and a vaulted
bazaar. At the inception of the
Hamidiye cavalry corps in 1891, Mustafa,
agha (chief) of the local
Miran clan, enrolled and was made a commander with the rank of
paşa, hereafter known as Mustafa Paşa. Throughout the 1890s, Mustafa Paşa exploited his position to seize goods from merchants and plunder Christian villages in the district. In 1892, Mustafa Paşa converted a mosque at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar into a barracks for his soldiers. The appointment of Mehmed Enis Paşa as
vali of Diyarbekir on 4 October 1895 was quickly followed by
massacres of Christians throughout the province, and in mid-November an Ottoman army repelled an attempt by Mustafa Paşa to enter the city and slaughter its Christian inhabitants. Mustafa Paşa subsequently complained to Enis Paşa, and the officer in charge of the regiment was summoned to Diyarbekir. Later, the British and French vice-consuls at Diyarbekir, Cecil Marsham Hallward and Gustave Meyrier, respectively, suspected that Enis Paşa was responsible for the massacres in the province. In 1897, the British diplomat
Telford Waugh reported that Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was used as a place of exile by the Ottoman Empire as he noted the presence of Albanians deported there, and that the city's governor Faris,
agha of the Şammar clan, had been exiled there after his fall from grace.
Early 20th century prior to the
partition of the Ottoman Empire Mustafa Paşa feuded with
agha Muhammad Aghayê Sor, and in 1900 the
kaymakam of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar intervened to aid the Tayan clan, Mustafa Paşa's allies, against Aghayê Sor. Several months later, Mustafa Paşa had twenty villages in the district loyal to his rival destroyed, and Aghayê Sor wrote to the Brigadier General Bahaeddin Paşa seeking protection. Bahaeddin Paşa travelled to Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar to conduct an inquiry, but was imprisoned there for five days by Mustafa Paşa, and the two rivals continued to attack each other's territories until Mustafa Paşa was assassinated on Aghayê Sor's orders in 1902. Within the
kaza of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, in 1909, there were 1500 households, 1000 of which possessed over 50
dönüms. As late as 1910, the Miran clan annually migrated from their winter pastures in the plain of Mosul to Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in the spring to trade and pay taxes, and then across the Tigris to summer grazing grounds at the source of the River
Botan. The British scholar
Gertrude Bell visited the city in May 1910. In 1915, amidst the ongoing genocide of
Armenians and
Assyrians perpetrated by the Ottoman government and local
Kurds, Aziz Feyzi and Zülfü Bey carried out preparations to destroy the Christian population of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar on orders from
Mehmed Reshid,
vali of Diyarbekir. From 29 April to 12 May, the officials toured the district and incited the Kurds against the Christians; Halil Sâmi,
kaymakam of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar since 31 March 1913, was replaced by Kemal Bey on 2 May 1915 due to his refusal to support the plans for genocide. At this time, two
redif (reserve) battalions were stationed in the city. Julius Behnam, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Gazarta, fled to
Azakh upon hearing of the commencement of massacres in the province in July. Christians in rural areas of the district were massacred over several days from 8 August onwards, and several Jacobite and 15 Chaldean Catholic villages were destroyed. On the night of 28 August,
Flavianus Michael Malke, Syriac Catholic Bishop of Gazarta, and
Philippe-Jacques Abraham, Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Gazarta, were killed. On 29 August, Aziz Feyzi, Ahmed Hilmi, Mufti of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, and Ömer,
agha of the Reman clan, coordinated the arrest, torture, and execution of all Armenian men and a number of Assyrians in Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar. The men's bodies were dumped in the Tigris, and, two days later, the children were abducted into Muslim households, and most women were raped and killed, and their bodies were also thrown into the river. Walter Holstein, German vice-consul at Mosul, reported the massacre to the German embassy at
Constantinople on 9 September, and the German ambassador
Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg informed the German
Foreign Office on 11 September that the massacre had resulted in the death of 4750
Armenians (2500
Gregorians, 1250
Catholics, and 1000
Protestants) and 350
Assyrians (250
Chaldeans and 100 Jacobites). After the massacre, eleven churches and three chapels were confiscated. 200 Armenians from
Erzurum were exterminated near Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar by General
Halil Kut on 22 September. Kemal Bey continued in the office of
kaymakam until 3 November 1915. In the aftermath of Ottoman defeat in the
First World War,
Ali İhsan Sâbis, commander of the Ottoman
Sixth Army, was reported to have recruited and armed Kurds at Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar in February 1919 in an effort to prevent British occupation. After the murder of Captain Alfred Christopher Pearson,
assistant political officer at
Zakho, by Kurds on 4 April 1919, the occupation of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar was considered to ensure the security of
British Iraq, but ultimately dismissed. Ahmed Hilmi, Mufti of Jazirat Ibn ʿUmar, was ordered to be arrested in May 1919 for his role in the massacre in 1915 as part of the
Turkish courts-martial of 1919–1920, but he evaded arrest as he was under the protection of local Kurdish clans. Appeals from Kurds to the British government to create an independent Kurdish state spurred the appointment of
Nihat Anılmış as commander at Cizre in June 1920 with instructions from the
Prime Minister of Turkey Mustafa Kemal to establish local government and secure control of local Kurds by inciting them to engage in armed clashes against British and French forces, thus preventing good relations. Local Kurdish notables complained to the
Grand National Assembly of Turkey of alleged illegal activity by Nihat Anılmış, and although it was decided no action was to be taken in July 1922, he was transferred away from Cizre in early September. Amidst the
partition of the Ottoman Empire, Cizre was allocated to become part of 'the specifically French zone of interests' as per the
Treaty of Sèvres of 10 August 1920. However, Turkey concentrated a significant number of forces at Cizre in January 1923 to bolster the Turkish position at the
Lausanne Conference of 1922–23, and the city itself was retained by Turkey, but part of the district was transferred to
Syria and
Iraq. In response to
Kurdish revolts in the 1920s, the Turkish government aimed to
Turkify the population of eastern Turkey, but Christians were deemed unsuitable, and thus attempted to eradicate those who had survived the genocide. In this effort, 257 Syriac Orthodox men from
Azakh and neighbouring villages were imprisoned by the government at Cizre in 1926, where they were beaten and denied food.
Late 20th century Cizre received electricity and running water in the mid-1950s. In the 1960s, the infrastructure of the city was developed as a new
bridge, municipal buildings, and new roads were constructed and streets were widened, and amenities such as a public park named after
Atatürk and a cinema were built. Roughly 60 people were detained and tortured for 20 days by Turkish police after the killing of two Turkish policemen in Cizre on 13 January 1989. On 21 March 1992, a pro-PKK demonstration to celebrate
Newroz in contravention of a state ban was dispersed by Turkish soldiers, and led to violence as Kurdish militants retaliated, resulting in the death of 26-30 people. Properties in Cizre were damaged by Turkish soldiers in two shootouts against PKK militants in August and September 1993, and three militants were killed.
Contemporary period Riots erupted in Cizre in October 2014 in response to the Turkish government's decision to prohibit Kurds from travelling to Syria to participate in the
Syrian Civil War, as well as in reaction to accusations that the Turkish government
supported the
Islamic State (ISIS) against the
Kurds in Syria. It is claimed that 17 Kurds from Cizre fought and died in the
Siege of Kobanî. Finally, the breakdown of the
2013–2015 PKK–Turkey peace process, which was part of the broader
third phase of the
Kurdish–Turkish conflict, prompted local Kurdish youth, affiliated with the
YDG-H, the militant youth wing of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and later
YPS, to erect blockades, ditches, and armed checkpoints, declare "
autonomy", and to carry out patrols in several neighbourhoods to block the movement of
Turkish police. A
military operation was launched by the
Turkish Armed Forces to reestablish control over the city on 4 September 2015, and a
curfew was imposed, which has also been described as a military
siege. An estimated 70 Kurdish militants responded with rocket-propelled grenade attacks, when Turkish soldiers tried to enter the city. From the mountains that surround Cizre, the Turkish army used its
heavy armour, including
tanks and
artillery to shell buildings inflicting great damage. On 14 December 2015, Turkish military operations resumed in Cizre, and the
curfew was renewed. The military operation continued until 11 February, but the curfew was maintained until 2 March. During the clashes between 24 July 2015 and 30 June 2016 at Cizre, the Turkish Armed Forces claimed to have killed or captured 674 PKK militants, and to have suffered 24 killed military and police officers as casualties. The pro-Kurdish
Democratic Regions Party (DBP) said in a statement that 300 people had been killed during the curfew. During the military confrontation, the infamous
Cizre basement massacre occurred, in which independent
U.N. monitors accused the Turkish military of burning alive more than 100 civilians in a basement by pouring gasoline and setting it on fire.
U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Raad al-Hussein urged Turkey to grant the U.N. unimpeded access to the affected areas following the events and said there were accounts of unarmed civilians, including women and children, being shot by snipers and that government forces also caused "huge damage" to the local infrastructure. The
Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed these accounts, stating that in some cases the Turkish security forces opened fire on civilians on the streets carrying
white flags, deployed military vehicles at the Cizre State Hospital, destroyed residential buildings on a large scale, and deliberately and unjustifiably killed about 130 people, among whom were unarmed civilians and injured combatants, trapped in Cizre's basements. The
Association for Human Rights and Solidarity for the Oppressed concluded that between 203 and 266 people were killed during the military curfew, the majority of whom died when Turkish security forces stormed three residential basements where hundreds had been sheltering from the fighting. Kadir Kunur, co-mayor of Cizre said "a total of 176 people were massacred altogether in three basements." A Turkish opposition newspaper said that at least 60 civilians were killed in one of the basements. Furthermore, the HRW accused the Turkish government of blocking access for independent investigations into alleged mass abuses against civilians, including unlawful killings of civilians, mass
forced displacement, and widespread unlawful destruction of private property. The Turkish physician Dr Şebnem Korur Fincanci was arrested and imprisoned on charges of involvement in the propaganda of terrorism by the Turkish government on 20 June 2016 as a consequence of her report on conditions in Cizre after the end of the curfew in March 2016; she was later acquitted in July 2019. On 26 August 2016, 11 policemen were killed and 78 were injured in a
car bomb attack, which was attributed to the PKK. The attack targeted a police checkpoint and severely damaged a nearby riot police headquarters. The Turkish government banned journalists and independent observers from entering the city to report on the bombing. ==Ecclesiastical history==