IRAQ REFLECTION: Airstrikes or Apples?
May 8th, 2009
in:
CPTnet
8 May 2009
IRAQ REFLECTION: Airstrikes or Apples?
by Charlie Jackson
[Jackson, a member of the recent CPT delegation to Iraq, wrote this reflection on 26 April 2009]
At the unpaved end of the road near Iraq’s border with Turkey lies the tiny village of Merkegia. The coral pink buildings and church stand in contrast to the lush green of Kurdistan. A few families have ventured back to their apple orchards—famous even in far away Baghdad—despite Turkish forts and tanks at bases inside Iraq that they must pass each day to reach their town.
The villagers celebrate St. George’s Day, hopeful that they will be able to harvest their crops this year—if Turkish airstrikes cease.
Merkegia, and neighboring villages in this region have been beset by cross-border airstrikes and shelling by Turkey that have destroyed orchards, crops, livestock and homes. The people have seen their way of life, once threatened by Saddam, now at the mercy of a foreign air force. They ask “Why?”
“We only want to live peaceably and harvest our apples,” says one resident who returned with his family to the town that one held more than 100 families. They do not understand why their own central government, along with the United States, does not stop Turkey from bombing.
As we travel to other villages, we hear a similar refrain. “In past years, Saddam tried to empty our villages and kill our families,” says the father of a displaced family. “Now, it appears that others want to do the same.” More than 190 villages in the region have been attacked and their families forced to flee from airstrikes during the past two years—as recently as a week ago. Bridges to their homes have been destroyed as well, and mines, cluster bombs, and other unexploded ordinance litter the land.
When asked, officials in Ankara claim that armed insurgents with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have crossed over into Iraq from Turkey. The villagers say there may be PKK in the mountains, but not in their towns, so they cannot understand why their rural livelihood is under attack. The faces of their children, eager to play amidst the trees and fields, do not reflect the fears and sadness of those who have witnessed the ongoing destruction of this bountiful land. They only know that today is a beautiful Sunday.
8 May 2009
IRAQ REFLECTION: Airstrikes or Apples?
by Charlie Jackson
[Jackson, a member of the recent CPT delegation to Iraq, wrote this reflection on 26 April 2009]
At the unpaved end of the road near Iraq’s border with Turkey lies the tiny village of Merkegia. The coral pink buildings and church stand in contrast to the lush green of Kurdistan. A few families have ventured back to their apple orchards—famous even in far away Baghdad—despite Turkish forts and tanks at bases inside Iraq that they must pass each day to reach their town.
The villagers celebrate St. George’s Day, hopeful that they will be able to harvest their crops this year—if Turkish airstrikes cease.
Merkegia, and neighboring villages in this region have been beset by cross-border airstrikes and shelling by Turkey that have destroyed orchards, crops, livestock and homes. The people have seen their way of life, once threatened by Saddam, now at the mercy of a foreign air force. They ask “Why?”
“We only want to live peaceably and harvest our apples,” says one resident who returned with his family to the town that one held more than 100 families. They do not understand why their own central government, along with the United States, does not stop Turkey from bombing.
As we travel to other villages, we hear a similar refrain. “In past years, Saddam tried to empty our villages and kill our families,” says the father of a displaced family. “Now, it appears that others want to do the same.” More than 190 villages in the region have been attacked and their families forced to flee from airstrikes during the past two years—as recently as a week ago. Bridges to their homes have been destroyed as well, and mines, cluster bombs, and other unexploded ordinance litter the land.
When asked, officials in Ankara claim that armed insurgents with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have crossed over into Iraq from Turkey. The villagers say there may be PKK in the mountains, but not in their towns, so they cannot understand why their rural livelihood is under attack. The faces of their children, eager to play amidst the trees and fields, do not reflect the fears and sadness of those who have witnessed the ongoing destruction of this bountiful land. They only know that today is a beautiful Sunday.
