-
QANDIL, Kurdistan region — Residents from the border area of Qandil have been left destitute after Turkish bombing in September, with the displaced receiving little help from local authorities.
For some elderly villagers, this is the fourth time they have had to flee their homes.
“We don’t have anywhere else to go,” Abdulla Hassan of Zewka village told Rudaw.
Aish Babkir added that she had previously faced Iranian shelling, before escaping the recent Turkish bombardment.
Tents have been erected in a nearby village to house the IDPs, including a makeshift school providing for 18 students.
It is uncertain how long they will be able to run the school, however.
“It’s very cold here, especially when we come in the morning. It’s very unpleasant,” student Milan Rasul said.
The chieftain of Zewka added that they are yet to receive help from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
“We’ve asked the KRG for help many times…so far nothing has been done,” Hamadamin Abdullah stated.
Turkey regularly conducts airstrikes on villages in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI) under the premise of targeting members and bases of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the European Union.
Several villages near the Turkish border were emptied in September amid fears of ongoing Turkish shelling.
The PKK has been engaged in a decades-long struggle with Turkey over their demands for Kurdish rights.
Reporting by Bakhtiyar Qadir
Translation by Sarkawt Mohammed
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment