Then torn from their land and their livestock, they were crammed into slums in nearby Diyarbakir.
BBC: Some say the compensation payments do not go far enough
Amid such tensions, miracles unfold on a basketball court in Baglar, Diyarbakir's toughest neighbourhood.
ECONOMIST: Some young Kurds find success on a basketball court
On a hillside more than a hundred miles from Diyarbakir stand the ruins of Kurdish village called Kocak.
In recent days the Turkish military has launched from Diyarbakir a number of air raids on these PKK bases.
As it turned out, the potentially-explosive Diyarbakir gathering passed peacefully, with no tear gas, gunfire or Molotov cocktails.
Yet amid the drudgery and disaffection, Cupid has a role, says Remzi Oto, a sociologist at Dicle University in Diyarbakir.
ECONOMIST: Why a strong tradition persists in defiance of the law
Saridal was established 45 years ago by semi-nomadic tribesmen on the edge of Karacadag, an extinct volcano east of Diyarbakir.
ECONOMIST: Why a strong tradition persists in defiance of the law
Last week thousands took to the streets in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, to mourn the activists' deaths.
The atmosphere in Diyarbakir was subdued Thursday, with nearly every shop shuttered, in a citywide shutdown coinciding with the funeral demonstration.
CNN: Mourners in Turkey protest killings of Kurdish activists
The first government-run refuge opened its doors outside Diyarbakir two years ago.
The announcement was read out in Diyarbakir in Kurdish and in Turkish.
In Diyarbakir and elsewhere in the south-east, new efforts are being made to protect vulnerable women through emergency hotlines and shelters for abused women.
"We expect to have finished processing all applications by the end of May and complete all payments by August, " explains the governor of Diyarbakir, Efkan Ala.
BBC: Some say the compensation payments do not go far enough
There have been demonstrations in the French capital to demand action over the deaths and, on Thursday in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir, tens of thousands took to the streets for the funeral of the three activists.
BBC: 'Two detained' over Kurdish PKK activists' Paris deaths
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