Shiladze is like a prison, say residents

01-06-2022 12:04

PEREGRAF

As the decades-long war between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkey flares in the nearby mountains, the villages around Shiladze lie empty in part because the local security forces have prevented displaced families from returning to their gardens and fields.

Local resident Parwar Sabri told Peregraf that civilians bear the brunt of both the ongoing military operations and tensions between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PKK, saying that Shiladze is now like a prison.

"Our security forces will not allow farmers return to their villages, gardens, and farmland, saying that it is in order to protect the lives of civilians from Turkish bombardment," Sabri said.

The site of intense fighting between Turkey and the PKK over the past several years, Shiladze is located in northeastern Duhok governorate and sits across several overlapping zones of military control.

Residents told Peregraf that the local security forces were only allowing locals to travel in the direction of Duhok city, but not to other areas or their villages.

The Turkish military has maintained a presence in northern Duhok governorate dating back to 1997. According to a report by Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT), Turkey has 37 military and intelligence bases in the Kurdistan Region, including some that are 35 kilometers inside the border.

"Out of 92 villages [in our district], 82 villages have been evacuated so far," an official in charge of the Shiladze district administration told Peregraf on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

"Even the administrative side cannot go to the abandoned villages to determine and estimate the damage caused by the fighting," the official added.

Turkey launched its latest military offensive – dubbed Operation Claw-Lock – on April 17, staging cross-border air and ground operations.

"Most of the villagers have been evacuated and citizens are unable to return to their land, so there has been a lot of damage to farmers," Sabri said, noting that spring and early summer are important times for planting and harvesting various crops.

In the face of this crisis, residents complain that officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are preventing them from earning a living and have offered no alternative solutions.

"The travel ban is due to fighting and bombardment," the district official said by way of explanation.

"Farmers have often returned to their villages to work on their land and been targeted and martyred, so farmers and civilians will not be allowed to travel until the end of the war and operations," they added.

To enforce the ban, units from the Peshmerga, Zeravani, and Asayish are operating checkpoints on roads around the town to prevent civilians from moving into off-limits areas.

According to CPT, approximately 100 civilians have been killed in the Kurdistan Region as a result of regional and local political conflicts over the last seven years.

Paiber Artisi, a history teacher, told Peregraf that approximately 50 of those are from the area around Shiladze.

"The area was destroyed by ground and air attacks by the PKK, Turkey, and even during the civil war [in the 1990s] and dozens of people were martyred and wounded," Artisi said.

In 2019, four people from the town were killed by Turkish airstrikes over the course of several days.

In response, local residents attacked and burned a local Turkish military camp, which resulted in a crackdown by the KRG on political activities in Shiladze.