The Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H) -- an affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- declared autonomy in the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Şırnak on Saturday. 

Hundreds of masked YDG-H members holding PKK flags marched in military-like order to the same spot where they had announced their establishment in June 2013. The group declared the Sur and Nur neighborhoods to be “territories ruling themselves” at the weekend.
Following the YDG-H's declaration, armed groups held celebrations and announced that they will no longer allow Turkish soldiers and police in the aforementioned neighborhoods. The group reportedly started digging trenches and erecting barricades surrounding the Sur and Nur neighborhoods as well as the Cudi neighborhood in order to block soldiers and police from entering the region. However, the police did not allow them to finish and took strict security measures in the area. Some YDG-H members were seen wearing military uniforms for the first time and other supporters were wearing t-shirts with the group's initials on them.
The declaration of independence was presented in Turkish as a press statement by a YDG-H member. The statement said: “There are [ongoing] plots serving certain purposes. There are attempts being made to corrupt our grassroots movement. They aim to numb individuals who have thoughts and seeks freedom. The Kobani resistance has shown us the truth. If the revolution does not take place in Turkey, all other gains will remain in peril forever. Through such revolts, we have cleared our streets from the dirty politics of the state. This is a gain that has to be preserved. This has spurred the start of a new process. A society now has territories belonging to itself. The Kurdish people will live in these territories and rebuild the society. For us, Nur and Sur are now neighborhoods to live in freely. We declare to all of society that the two neighborhoods are now places where locals will meet their own needs and form their organizations. These neighborhoods will rule themselves.”
The YDG-H is known to be a youth movement and a unit of the PKK charged with keeping public order.

TODAY'S ZAMAN