SHILINE VILLAGE, Kurdistan Region - In northern Duhok province, villagers are caught in the crossfire of a conflict that has destroyed their homes and life’s work.
“All my salary has gone into this… We built this house for our own comfort… This house has been targeted and my property is gone. Everything is gone,” Sharif Zuber, a resident of Shiline village, told Rudaw on Friday.
Shiline village is located in the Batifa area of Duhok province where there are frequent clashes between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Zuber said his home was flattened by Turkish warplanes on January 24.
“Where do I direct my pleas? I challenge anyone who says this house was suspicious at all,” he said.
Clashes between Turkey and the PKK have damaged numerous villages in northern Duhok province. Some villages have been emptied and others are also considering evacuation.
"We have spent an estimated $35,000 on this house. Our plea to this government is to cooperate with the people," said Abdulrahman Muheidin, another resident of Shiline village who said his house was damaged as a result of the fighting.
“If they are unable to govern the area, let it be sealed off like Saddam [Hussein, former Iraqi president] used to do. Let it be a forbidden zone. Because more people will be vulnerable. People may be targeted by Turkish operations if they enter the zone to do farming unaware,” he added.
Turkey and the PKK have been fighting each other for over four decades. Ankara has intensified its attacks on suspected PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region in recent years, especially after the armed Kurdish group took responsibility for a deadly attack on a Turkish state-owned defense manufacturer in Ankara last October.
During his visit to Baghdad late last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Ankara is looking forward to Iraq designating the PKK as a terrorist organization. Last year, the Iraqi government officially banned the PKK.
Fidan’s visit came just two days after two Iraqi border guards were killed in Duhok province that triggered accusations of blame between Turkey and the PKK.