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NOKAN, Iran — Kurdish villagers in Iran have said they have been pressured to leave their homes by Iranian authorities.
Hassan Eil, 90, has lived in since he was seven years old.
“We don't want to be displaced from our ancestral land. I have spent all of my life here and would like to die and be buried here,” he told Rudaw.
Six villages West Azerbaijan province are affected: Nokan, Gorasher, LowerTety, Harzne, Lower Ashkan and Gaka.
Gaka has been completely emptied, with the population in other villages dropping to around 200 people.
The villages are near a military area, and people’s movements are strictly monitored by border guards and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). State authorities have told them they must vacate the villages.
“We have been pressured to leave Nokan for many years. But we are not ready to leave… here is no other place to go to and we don’t have any source of income,” said villager Muhsin Eil.
Many villagers have left for the city of Sardasht, where job opportunities are better.
VT by Nasser Piroti
Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
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