Kurdistan

On September 6, Turkey’s Defense Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the end of Operation Claw-Tiger, the Turkish military ground campaign in the Haftanin area of the Kurdistan Region’s northern border with Turkey.

To be a jet pilot is to be my enemy. To be the defender of a nation, means to be the bomber of my community, the amputator of my friend Saman’s nine-month-old legs.

On 25 June 2020, Peyman Talib with her son Hezhwan, daughter Hamisha and her husband Kaiwan Kawa were in their grocery store in Kuna Masi. Kuna Masi is hometown to dozens of families, a tree-lined river,  and a picnic area that hundreds of families visit during weekends.

During a press conference on 15 July 2020, Hakan Karacay, Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Erbil, responded to a question about the ongoing Turkish military operation in Iraqi Kurdistan by saying, “We have never targeted any civilians.”

An Australian friend told me the other day that a strong case of nostalgia is floating about at the moment. As the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown continue, it seems many of us here in Australia are forced to reflect on our lives—one of the casualties of time alone.

Report: The construction of new military bases by the Kurdistan Peshmerga Forces near the town of Warte in March 2020 and the following Turkish Air Force cross-border bombardments of the area in April and May are escalating local residents’ fear of further violence and a possible outbreak of war in the region. 

I had a video call with a friend of mine a few days ago. He was standing outside the house where he lived. His face was tanned, his smile wide and his words full of humour. When I asked him what had happened with his case, he talked about the colour of the stamp on his Ausweis. * It was still red. He could still not go aboard the big ferry that would take him away from the island. 

A deadly Turkish military escalation is unfolding at this very moment in Iraqi Kurdistan. We need you to act now! This week, the Turkish military bombed 81 locations in Iraqi Kurdistan, allegedly targeting Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq's border areas and disputed territories. This region is also home to CPT's partners, who live and farm in this mountainous region with their families, communities, and migrant farmers.