IRAQ: Kurdistan Youth Call for End to Cross-Border Bombings

Ranya, Iraqi Kurdistan- On 16 June 2010, Kurdish youth gathered to call for
an end to Iranian cross-border bombardment and shelling that have plagued
Iraq’s northeastern border region for years and have intensified in the last
weeks.

During the event, hosted by the Ranya Youth Center (RYC),
the audience listened to several speakers.  The center’s guitar band played a concert and young artists
from the region displayed their artwork.

“The youth want to support the people who are suffering,” said Khalid Qadir
Mohammed, director of the RYC.  “They
want to be part of that pain.  It
is a good chance for the band to play; they chose songs that are emotionally
connected to the issue.”  Ziryan
Yasin (18), hostess at the event, told the story of Basos, a fourteen-year-old
girl living in Ranya who was killed in the bombing while visiting relatives in
the border region.  The Kurdish
people are “like a human body,” Yasin said.  “When one organ has pain, the whole body is crying.”

Mamosta Ali, the mayor of Ranya, said that the Iranians “want to destroy this
region.  But we will not let them
attain that dream.  We will all
work together to develop this region.  To the young people I say, you have to continue this work.  This is a good answer to the bombings.

”Rallies and activities have been held throughout Iraqi Kurdistan in the past
weeks, to call for increased diplomacy to seek an end to the bombings.  “International organizations,” added
Khalid, “should peacefully pressure Iran to stop the bombings.”

Iranian and Turkish cross-border bombing and shelling have intensified since US
military intelligence became available to the Turkish military, late 2007.  Christian Peacemaker Teams estimates
that several thousand villagers in Ranya’s immediate surroundings alone have
been displaced by the bombings.