Oak trees cut down in Erbil’s Shaqlawa

SHAQLAWA, Kurdistan Region - Unidentified people have cut down dozens of oak trees in the town of Shaqlawa in Erbil province and fled, with locals claiming that the trees are used to produce charcoal for profit. 

The age of the trues, which were cut down near the property of a school principal, is estimated to be between 25 to 100 years old. 

“Once I came, I saw this tree had been cut down along with several other trees, and it seemed like they cut down the trees at night because during daytime there are a lot of people in this area,” said Abdulsamad Ibrahim, the principal of Baraka School. “They cut down around 30 to 40 trees, including big, medium, and small trees.” 

Ibrahim decided to file a complaint against those who cut down the trees, believing they were cut to produce charcoal. 

In recent years, many trees have been cut down in the Kurdistan Region, some of which are around 100 to 200 years old. Locals and officials in many other parts of the Kurdistan Region, including Erbil province, have warned that the cutting down of trees, mainly old oak trees, is becoming a dangerous phenomenon, especially in the mountainous regions.

“We have opened an investigation file with the judge of Shaqlawa, we will take legal action so that we can penalize the suspects once we have identified them,” Walid Hamakhzr, head of Shaqlawa’s forest and environment police said. 

Last year, Shaqlawa’s forest and environment police arrested around 170 people on various charges of harming the environment.