Silopi is a city and district of Şırnak Province, close to the borders of Iraq and Syria. The district, including Silopi city, three townships with their own municipalities and 23 villages, had an urban population of 73,400 according to the 2009 census.
The Habur frontier gate, the only major crossing between Turkey and Iraq, is in the district of Silopi, and queues of lorries waiting can reach dozens of kilometers on the motorway connecting the two countries. The Khabur River and the Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline also cross the district.
Turkish authorities placed the city of Silopi under ‘curfew’, between 14 December 2015 – 4 January 2016, and 20 people were reportedly killed.
Aygün Binici has a small shop at the “Women's Labor Market” opened by the HDP’s Silopi Municipality. Her shop has become a hope for dozens of women because Aygün sells their products at her shop.
The Mother Taybet Women’s Counseling Center in the Silopi district of Şırnak has become the shelter of women in the district. The center, which has received more than 50 applications from women victims of violence, aims to reach more women.
Since the beginning of 2015, "Mesopotamia Ecology Movement", which was formed in 2011, has entered an important process of restructuring itself. Under a new structure and with profounder political claims, more and more people are getting involved for a more ecological society, producing a new dynamic which will have short- and long-term positive effects on Northern Kurdistan.
