In recent weeks, the Turkish army has intensified its bombings on PKK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan. Raids which also regularly affect civilians. Entire villages have been emptied of their inhabitants in recent months, people are fleeing danger. RFI went to meet those who remained.
2 mins
With our special correspondent returning from Mawat, Théo Renaudon
Taqana is the owner of a restaurant located not far from a place that has already been bombed, but for him, staying constitutes an act of resistance. “ Yes, it’s definitely a kind of civil resistance to stay here. Either way, it’s the only thing we can do “, he confides.
Many residents near the border were forced to leave. There is no more life there. Staying is difficult. I’m not afraid, but it’s true that it’s dangerous for my family and my animals. It also affects the economy of the area. And that makes life impossible. Turkish bombings are nothing new. They want everyone Kurds leave the area, but they won’t make it.
Kaywan is a trader. His store was bombed four years ago, he miraculously escaped. And yet, he decided to stay here. “ This shop, he explains, it’s my livelihood. And my livelihood depends on this region. »
I live with my family in the city. If I could sell this store, I wouldn’t wait an hour: I would leave this unhappy place and never come back.
The Mawat region has been hit more times in the last five months than in all of 2023. A quarter of the residents have left. The PKK, a Kurdish nationalist party entrenched in Iraq, is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara. There Türkiye promises a vast military operation by the summer, with the aim of creating a “ anti-terrorism buffer zone » along its border.
Listen againIn Iraqi Kurdistan, Syrians no longer seem to be welcome