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Iraqi Kurds huddle to escape Turkish
shelling 26.10.2007 |
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October
26, 2007
BEGOVA, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',-- In the
tiny villages of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region,
Turkey has become the latest nightmare for
residents, filling the vacuum left by the ousting
and execution of Iraq's long-term dictator.
"The Turks are behaving like Saddam Hussein. They
bomb us and drive us from our lands," complained an
angry Khalwat Rashit who had fled Nezuri, a hamlet
threatened by Turkish artillery.
Some 15 families from that small community, 60
kilometres (35 miles) northeast of Zakho, have found
refuge in Begova, a neighbouring locality which
paradoxically also shelters a Turkish military base.
The base is there under an agreement made in 1997
between the party of the current president of Iraq's
autonomous Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, and
Ankara.
"Raja, my little girl, can't stand the shelling. She
cries and has nightmares, so we decided to leave,"
said the 50-year-old villager, dressed in
traditional Kurdish long robe, her hair covered by a
white scarf.
"We have nothing at all. We left everything," she
added.
"Saddam Hussein burnt our houses to chase us out and
we had to flee. After the tyrant's downfall, we came
to Nezuri and rebuilt everything with government
help.
"Now another dictatorship has chased us from our
lands and our homes," she said, comparing the
Turkish authorities to the Iraqi Baath regime of
Saddam.
Nezuri mayor Khalil Mirmeh, also wearing traditional
Kurdish costume, said Turkish bombardments had
destroyed houses in the village.
"The village bridge was destroyed too, completely
cutting us off from three neighbouring villages.
It's impossible to go there even on foot," said
Mirmeh, surrounded by his grandchildren.
"The Turks have already killed my brother, 10 years
ago while he was working in his field," added the
60-year-old.
"Even if they come we are stronger -- we will defend
our lands, our villages and our families."
The mayor pointed to groups of children playing and
running in the road around the houses sheltering the
displaced. "We must tell the whole world that the
Turks must cease their bombardment of the
innocents," he said.
A delegation representing eight non-governmental
Kurdish groups visited Begova to "witness the
suffering of these refugees" and report to the
United Nations on the situation, said Mussa Ahmed,
one member of the group.
Begova mayor Abdel Faysal said that of 15 frontier
villages in the zone, five had been bombarded by
Turkish heavy guns and the inhabitants of three
other hamlets had fled their homes to take refuge in
his community.
AFP
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