Residents of small town see segregation as safeguard against ethnic violence

In the town of Tuz Khurmatu that lies on the main highway connecting Baghdad and Kirkuk people have started building iron fences and gates to separate one neighborhood from another. They are Kurds and Turkmen of Shiite and Sunni faith.

This is the result of months of violent clashes between Kurdish and Shiite forces in this town in 2015 where dozens of people were killed and wounded.

Residents of Tuz Khurmatu aren’t necessarily happy about these fences and segregation that was never a case in their town, but they see it as the only guarantee of safety for the time being.

Tuz Khurmatu has been for many years a multiethnic town but in the wake of the war with ISIS and emergence of various armed groups, tensions have also risen between its residents.

Some like Shwan still break the barriers and iron locks to visit relatives of the other faith or ethnicity.