Sidakan locals insistent on returning to highlands despite Turkey-PKK conflict

SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region - The Turkish army’s bombardment of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) positions in the Kurdistan Region’s north has forced residents of Sidakan district, particularly farmers and livestock breeders, to relocate to safer pastures. Still, they insist on returning to save their livelihoods. 

Dozens of farmers and livestock breeders went to the mayor’s office in Erbil’s Sidakan district on Friday, determined not to give up their jobs despite the constant danger of air, drone, and artillery strikes. They sought permission to continue working. 

They expressed concern about the rising temperature in the lowlands and requested permission to return to the cooler highlands - a more suitable environment for farming and grazing.

“You cannot go to these areas nowadays because they are dangerous,” local Sidakan villager Rasool Shamzin told Rudaw’s Andam Jabar.  

Permits have been issued for 1,403 families of livestock breeders, farmers, and beekeepers to enter the region's highlands.

Turkey’s bombardment of PKK positions can be heard daily in the highlands. The situation in these areas is increasingly tense as the Turkish army continues its incursion into the Kurdistan Region. 

"We warn [villagers] not to visit the dangerous places at all, and they are responsible for going outside the protected area," said Ihsan Chalabi, district mayor of Sidakan.

“Of the total 1,617 kilometers of Sidakan area, 46 percent is no longer under our control, due to Turkey's entry to a depth of 30 kilometers and fighting between Turkey and the PKK,” Chalabi stressed. 

The Sidakan highlands are renowned for their fertile pastures. However, due to ongoing fighting and instability between Turkey and the PKK, livestock breeders, farmers, and beekeepers have been unable to access them for two years.

Andam Jabar contributed to this article.