Turkish airstrikes evacuate 25 villages in Duhok

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – People have left their villages and are afraid to return due to Turkish jet airstrikes aimed at PKK fighters, according to a Kurdish farmer on Sunday.

Turkish warplanes continue shelling Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in Duhok Province of the Kurdistan Region on the Turkish border. Due to the airstrikes, people in 25 villages in the Barwari area have left their homes and moved to a safer place, a Kurdistan24 reporter in Duhok said.

Farmers are one of the main victims of the evacuation because they are unable to visit their fields due to the airstrikes.

Bakhtiyar Ibrahim, a Kurdish farmer in Merja, told Kurdistan24 that his family was forced to leave the village. “We had no choice but to leave home and move to another place in Duhok. I am a farmer, and I have put so much effort to grow my crop in the last 15 years, that’s why I risk my life visiting the field,” he said.

Regarding the presence of PKK fighters in the area, Ibrahim said, “They are definitely near the village and on mountains, otherwise Turkish warplanes would not shell the area. Nobody knows where they are.”

Jassim Ahmad, a villager, told Kurdistan24 that the area is not stable, and his family cannot return home. “My family is scared of the continuous airstrikes near our village. We had to leave. We are looking forward to stability in the area.”

Unofficial statistics show that out of 75 villages in the Barwari area, 25 of them have been evacuated, and almost 500 families have left their homes due to the threat of the airstrikes.

Moreover, farmers state that the current financial crisis in the Kurdistan Region has left them no choice but to continue developing their agricultural fields.

“Farmers established fields containing different fruits in the village, but they couldn’t harvest and take the fruits to the Bazaar to sell due to the warplanes’ airstrikes. All the effort spent in those farms was wasted,” said Hussein Kamal, a villager in the Barwari area.

Previously, the Mayor of Sidakan town, Karwan Karimkhan, told Kurdistan24 that more than 100 villages have been evacuated in the town due to the Turkish airstrikes targeting PKK bases.

Sidakan is located on the Kurdistan Region border with Turkey and Iran. Sidakan is believed to be the largest town in Iraq with a territory consisting of 250 villages.

The clashes between Turkey and the PKK group were reignited after the 2015 Turkish election, effectively breaking a two-year ceasefire.

Reporting by Faruq Mohamad and Mewan Dolamari
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa