Turkey cuts off water and electricity in a Syriac village in Tur Abdin, Turkey

TUR ABDIN, TURKEY — Dijla Electric Company in Beth Zabdai, Turkey cut off electricity and water in the Syriac village of Midin, located in the Beth Zabdai Region, Turkey.

The company keeps cutting off electricity and water to the 70 villages of the Syriac (Aramean-Chaldean-Assyrian) people in Turkey.

According to mayor of the Midin village Shamoun Vergili, the Dijla Electricity Company cut off the water and electricity in the village on Thursday, under the pretext of accumulated debts estimated at millions since the opening of the spring in 1986 so far.

Several villages around Midin up to Beth Zabdai have been drawing their water from the spring since its opening, in addition to the Turkish school in the village.

According to Vergili, Midin and Bsorino villages are not the only villages that suffer from debt. There are more than 70 other indebted villages, but the company, from time to time, cuts off electricity and water from Midin and Bsorino.

“This will prompt us to file a complaint against the company, since we are not the only ones that consume water,” said Vergili. “The school cadres and about 100,000 soldiers also consume water.”

Vergili added that the company official said that the cutting is premeditated, intended and deliberate.

The company official neither responded nor replied to calls made by Suroyo TV.

Vergili called on institutions and parties of the Syriac people to stand in the face of the company’s deliberate cutting off water and electricity in the villages of Midin and Bsorino.