Financial losses mount as lingering war on Kurdistan’s borders forces evacuations

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Local authorities in Duhok province said Wednesday that the intensification of the conflict between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on the Kurdistan Region’s borders has cost the area greatly as dozens of villages are emptied.

Fighting between the PKK and the Turkish army in the town of Amedi, north of Dohuk city, has so far forced the evacuation of at least 200 villages and caused financial losses estimated at six billion dinars ($4.1 million).

The ongoing battles between the two sides of the conflict have put many Amedi district villages in danger, with daily damage to local residents' property, farms, and livestock. Local people have fled their villages for the district center in the latest wave of displacement that has cycled for more than a decade.

Locals say that they are tired of a war to which they are not a party, and that they have fallen victim to the PKK’s concentration in their villages.

"Turkey and the PKK should stop their war," said Majed Yousef, a local resident of the border areas. "Our people are mostly poor, and our work has been affected by these battles."

"Because of the bombing and clashes, we cannot go about our daily lives normally,” he said in an interview with Kurdistan 24.

The latest Turkish campaign has focused increasingly in the border areas of the Kurdistan Region, especially the Qandil Mountains on the border with Iran.

Of the 250 villages in the vast area, 202 are now empty of residents who have left and cannot return to their homes. 

"Our region has become a victim of the two warring sides. This problem must be resolved as soon as possible," Amedi Mayor Ismail Mustafa told Kurdistan 24.

Despite official calls for the PKK to leave the territory of the Kurdistan Region, the party still deploys its militants in hundreds of border villages.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has previously accused the PKK of hiding among the population and villages, turning them into human shields during its battles with Turkey.

Kurdistan Parliament Member Clara Odisha called on the Iraqi government not to remain silent and urged it to move to save villages from ruin and destruction.

"The Iraqi government has not taken a clear position to solve this problem," Odisha told Kurdistan 24, pointing out that all people of the region have become victims of the conflict.

Both Muslims and Christians live in these areas.

The tourism and agricultural sectors have been greatly affected by these battles, with livestock losses piling up and farms left untended as people flee the area.

Local authorities estimated those losses at six billion Iraqi dinars.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly