ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - In Hatka village, nestled in the rugged hills of Erbil’s northeast Bradost mountain range, an extraordinary legacy of environmental stewardship spans nearly a century, sustained by a single guardian and his family.
Mustafa Sulaiman is over 100 years old and has spent the better part of his life cultivating more than 7,000 trees in Hatka village, some of which are around 300 years old.
“I was 10 years old when I started serving these trees. I have been serving and protecting them for 90 years now …. I even taught my sons, grandchildren, and nephews. Now there are 150 people I taught to do this job,” he told Rudaw’s Blind Abdullah.
Sulaiman is a father to 10 sons and four daughters, and grandfather to more than 150 grandchildren. He has taught his family to follow in his footsteps in environmental stewardship.
“Ever since we were born, he has taught us to care for these trees with devotion and humanity. He has always told us to protect the trees, and we have lived up to his expectations. Whenever people approached them to cut them down, we didn’t allow them to,” said Sulaiman’s 77-year-old son, Hamid Mustafa.
Despite his age, Sulaiman remains remarkably active and enjoys good health. His daily routine includes walks along the hillside overlooking the village to inspect the trees.
For the residents of Hatka, protecting the landscape goes hand-in-hand with rural life, where conservation and survival are deeply intertwined.
Sulaiman told Rudaw that none of the foliage goes to waste. “We prune the branches for our herds and cattle in winter. We harvest the leaves as fodder to feed them during the winter months. When a tree dries up, we cut it for firewood. The trees also yield fruit and acorns, which we benefit from as well,” he said.
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