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SIYARE, Kurdistan Region — Farmers in Duhok province have had their farms and orchards destroyed in Turkish airstrikes and ensuing fires.
Sadiq Sultan is a farmer in the village of Siyare, in Duhok's Chamanke sub-disrtrict.
18 dunams of his orchard have been burned by Turkish airstrikes which regularly plague the area. The most recent strike to take place was on July 18.
'A silent drone came and dropped a bomb and the area caught on fire. We came to battle it but we couldn’t do anything. The damage to my field may be about 50 million [Iraqi Dinars] ($41,800)," he told Rudaw.
The fires continued for five days.
"Each of these trees are 50-60 years old. Hectares of land have been burned, from Ava Masiyan to the Chamanke border. If you drive for 20 minutes you see burnt land along the way," said farmer Khalil Siyari.
"Trees and plants of all kinds have been burned including sumac, oak and almond trees. We used to live on these trees because we had no wages. We were raised on these mountains," he added.
According to Chamanke sub-district directorate, 50 out of 65 villages in the area have been emptied over fear of airstrikes in the past 30 years.
Reporting by Naif Ramazan
Translation by Sarkawt Mohammed
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