Border opening and tourism as a promise in the war

Special forces of the KDP have been active in the town of Sheladize near Amadiya for some time. According to sources close to the KDP, the guerrilla area of Rêçbiraxa in the Zap region is involved. In the meantime, it has become clear what plan the Turkish intelligence service MIT has in mind for this region together with the KDP.

According to this plan, the KDP has promised financial benefits to leading figures from the tribes in the region by establishing a new border crossing to Gever (tr. Yüksekova) district of Hakkari. The prerequisite for this is the stationing of KDP units in Rêçbiraxa. The KDP wants a commitment from the tribes that they will take side against the guerrillas. On the other side of the border, the Turkish intelligence service MIT is holding the same talks with tribal leaders from northern Kurdistan.

Three crossings on the Turkish-Iraqi border

In Behdînan, there are three crossings along the Turkish-Iraqi border: Ibrahim Khalil, Serzêr and Zêtê. The official border crossing Ibrahim Khalil leads from Silopi, Şırnak across the Xabûr River to Zakho and Duhok. Serzêr is the connection between Çukurca in the north and Kanî Masî in the south and serves only to provide logistical supplies to the Turkish military base in Kanî Masî. The same applies to the Zêtê crossing between Derecik and Mêrgesor, through which a Turkish base established in Lêlikan in 2018 is supplied.

So what purpose will the new border crossing promoted by the KDP and MIT serve? What benefit will it have for the people of the region?

Clearly, this plan is solely about consolidating the existing occupation and giving it an official veneer. Building a road hundreds of kilometers long from Sheladize to Gever through impassable terrain would already cost millions of dollars.

In addition, the KDP has previously tried to recruit forces from the population to secure this route. Thus, the goal is not economic gain, but rather the establishment of a colony. The plan can be summarized as follows: Your land will be occupied, taxes will be levied on you for road construction, weapons will be given to you for security with which to fight the guerrillas, and all of nature will be exploited. So where is the benefit? Whether this is about benefit or harm is up to each person.

Tourism in the Balinda Valley?

Another important point is the promise to open the Balinda Valley and the area around Chemcho to tourism. Beginning in 2016, the Turkish state carried out massive airstrikes on the civilian population in Sheladize from the Balinda wadi through Rêçbiraxa to the villages of Kunişka, Kinyaniş, Mervanos and Nêrwe, killing dozens of people. There are no permanently populated places in the mentioned areas. People used to go there in summer for honey, grapes, walnuts and the pastures for their farm animals despite the Turkish airstrikes. After the 2019 uprisings in Sheladize, the KDP even banned access to the Balinda Valley. Since the KDP established an Asayîş (local security) post at the entrance to the valley, there is no security there at all. The population is seriously disturbed by this, and the KDP is pursuing all kinds of machinations to take advantage of it. With the claim that the area is to be used for tourism and that only the presence of the guerrillas prevents this project, the population is wanted to be organized against the guerrillas and a system like that of the village guards in Turkey is wanted to be implemented here as well.

Recruited by the KDP, paid by the Turkish state

After the July 2020 protests in Sheladize against the regional government, Omar Oreyi, the KDP officer in charge of Amadiya, spoke with leaders of the local tribes and said afterwards, “The local youth are unemployed and have big dreams. Without money, they blame the government for their unemployment. We agreed on a formula and can solve the problem by making an additional battalion for the peshmerga out of these youth.” Absurdly, most of the people from the region were peshmerga anyway before this statement and protested because they had not received a salary for almost two years. Later it turned out that the village guard system in the south was to be implemented by the KDP and paid for by the Turkish state.

What is taking place now is another version of the same game. The Turkish state is never generous to the Kurds; the example of Afrin is before everyone’s eyes. If this area is fully occupied, all natural resources will be plundered on the same day. This must be included in the calculation. I hope that the tribes in Sheladize will see through the situation and not become part of this plan.