DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Some tall buildings in Diyarbakir’s ancient district of Sur serve as observation towers these days. After months of being refugees in their own city, local residents are finally allowed to return to some neighborhoods where fierce clashes between Kurdish militants and the security forces raged earlier this year, leaving the area in unrecognizable shape. Climbing on top of multistory buildings that survived the clashes, Kurdish civilians are now anxiously surveying the damage, while many are desperate to spot their homes — or what remains of them — in areas that remain sealed off, months after the security crackdown ended in March.

Shortly after the entry ban to some streets was lifted recently, a group of women climbed the steps of a five-story building, stopping on each floor and peering into open doors. Some residents were back to collect usable belongings. The women wished them well, and, moving on, grumbled, “Let Allah punish those who put us through this.”

Once on top of the building, they were stunned, hardly able to recognize the place they had lived in for years. Overcoming the initial shock, they joined others on the roof in an anxious exercise to locate their homes. “Look, that’s our house,” one of the women said. “No, that’s not it,” another countered, “Your house was behind the mosque.”

The once narrow streets, where cars were barely able to pass, now looked like spacious avenues. They were beyond recognition, if it weren’t for some historical landmarks. The building atop which the people had gathered was just at the boundary of the still sealed-off zone. Other roofs in the vicinity were similarly full with people, asking the same question, “What has become of my house?”