ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Students in a mountainous Sulaimani village are studying in tents due to cross-border Turkish airstrikes. The strikes targeting Kurdish militants are happening as the war between Turkish and Kurdish forces in Syria next door continues.
Residents in Zewka village, situated in Zharawa town 142 kilometers north of Sulaimani in the eponymous province, fled in fear because of the Turkish jets.
"Over the past 24 hours, Turkey has bombed Zewka ten times," Zharawa mayor Abdulla Abbas told Rudaw on Wednesday. "This has sparked fear among the villagers, forcing them to flee and seek shelter elsewhere."
Turkey frequently targets Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) territory near the border with Turkey. The PKK has fought Turkey for decades for greater autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast. Both the KRG and Iraqi federal government have called on Turkey to stop the bombings, and have also told the PKK to stop using its territory.
The total 15 households in the village are living in tents at Sarchomi Serkhan in the town of Qaladize near the Iranian border.
"In coordination with the Sulaimani governor and some volunteers, we managed to provide tents for them," the mayor said.
This move has forced students to study in makeshift schools in tents in order not to miss their studies.
"In the past, we did not manage to continue teaching at the village. Now that they have fled, we are teaching them in tents," Zewka school principal Awat Osman told Rudaw.
"We are six teachers coming every day from Qaladize to teach the 15 students here," Osman said. "Our classes range from grades one to six."
Osman urges the KRG to find a solution as winter is around the corner and they cannot continue in this way, as the region is already becoming cold.
"It is very cold. We cannot continue in this way,” he said. “Relevant authorities must find a solution, otherwise the teaching will stop.”
Turkey is also currently fighting Kurdish-led forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria, utilizing a powerful air and artillery campaign against SDF positions.
Turkey’s incursion began on October 7, after US President Donald Trump informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan he was withdrawing US troops from the border, greenlighting Ankara’s long-threatened offensive. Turkey considers the main Kurdish group in the SDF, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), an extension of the PKK.
Despite mounting pressure from the EU, UK, US and Arab states, Erdogan is determined to continue the military operation as deep as 35 kilometers into Syria to create a “safe zone.” The operation seeks to remove the YPG from the border and resettle nearly four million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey, a move described as forced demographic change.
More than 300,000 people have been displaced since the fighting began in northern Syria, according to Kurdish authorities.
Translated by Zhelwan Z. Wali
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