Immediately, Kurds took to social media to express their ire and the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) has slammed the incident, tasking relevant authorities to “intervene.”
“It is understood that they were holding a Kurdistan flag while taking photographs. They were later arrested by the Turkish authorities,” a KRG said in a statement on Friday.
It added that KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani “expressed his concern over the incident, and has tasked KRG’s relevant authorities to intervene with their Turkish counterparts to secure the tourists' immediate release.”
“The Flag of the Kurdistan Region is recognized by the Iraqi Constitution, and has been previously displayed at Turkish airports to welcome official delegates from the Kurdistan Region,” the statement continued.
A video went viral on social media July 18-19, 2019 that purportedly shows a group of Turks assaulting Kurdish tourists for posing photographs with the Flag of Kurdistan painted on a scarf in Trabzon, Turkey. Video obtained by Rudaw
Trabzon’s governorship confirmed they had arrested nine people from the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
“Today at 11:00 [a.m.] in Uzungol neighborhood, Caykara district, 9 of 50 people who have come to our country for tourism were taking photographs with a scarf with the word ‘Kurdistan’ written on it,” a statement from the province read.
Soon the tourists got into a skirmish with locals, according to the Turkish statement, who “protested” the display of the flag.
“Our forces intervened in the incident, calming down our citizens and controlling the situation. Caykara’s public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for nine of the Iraqis over the incident and opened investigation,” it detailed.
Sami Jalal, the chief of staff in the KRG interior ministry, told Rudaw on Friday that all who were detained have been released.
Nine people return to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region on July 19, 2019, after leaving Turkey following their display of the Flag of the Kurdistan Region in the tourist destination of Trabzon. Photo submitted to Rudaw
Upon returning to Kurdistan Region, Rudaw spoke with some of the Kurdish tourists who explained what they saw in Turkey.
“A youth took out a flag [of Kurdistan]. He was very young, but we did not expect what followed. All of a sudden, an old [Turkish] man came to us shouting and attacked the youth. Many others followed [the man] and took down our youth, severely hurting them,” said one tourist.
Another person who said they had witnessed the incident claimed that they were not told by Kurdish or Turkish authorities that the Flag of Kurdistan was banned in the country.
Public reaction
The lynching was widely criticized by Kurds and Turks.
Mustafa Yeneroglu, a lawmaker of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul, defended displaying the Flag of Kurdistan.
“The displayed flag/scarf was the Flag of Kurdistan Region in Northern Iraq. Surely, the people of this region respect their flag and love it just like we do. An attack on KRG’s flag in Trabzon is as ugly as an attack on a Turkish flag in Erbil,” he tweeted.
Prominent Kurdish journalist in Turkey Nurcan Baysal claimed: “When it comes to Kurds and Kurdishness, this state [Turkey] never surprises us. Shame, shame!”
She also asked: “[How] can tourists, who have come to Turkey and been beaten, be deported?”
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Imam Tascier claimed that what happened was “racism conducted by the state,” attaching the statement from Trabzon Governor's office.
Some Kurds on Twitter launched the hashtag #ناچین_بۆ_تورکیا or “We will not go to Turkey” as a protest against the treatment of Turkish locals.
What can be done?
Famous Kurdish singer Dashni Morad suggested visiting countries rather than Turkey. She is a native of Sulaimani province in the Kurdistan Region and eventually fled with her family to the safety of the Netherlands. She now focuses on activism globally often on spreading women's voices and Kurdish issues.
"A large number of people in KRI head to Turkey annually despite the brutal racism. There are so many other countries you can enjoy with your Iraqi passport. I’ve heard Sri Lanka is okay. Our safety is at risk, boycott Turkey until better laws [are] protecting Kurdish tourists.”
Turkey and Kurdistan Region enjoy good economic ties as the latter is the most direct way for Turkey to market their goods in Iraq and many Arab countries. Thousands of tourists from the Kurdistan Region visit Turkey every month, typically in summer.
Masrour Barzani told Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Fatih Yildiz on July 13 in Erbil that they are concerned over “travel difficulties” between Turkey and Kurdistan Region.
The Kurdish premier “urged Ambassador Yildiz to help address recent reports of travel difficulties,” according to a readout from Barzani’s office.
