After the Zakho massacre, which cost the lives of nine tourists, the testimony of a parish priest who lives in the mountains of the region where the attacks took place. “Every week there are people who die from these bombings, I was also at risk of being killed. Ankara must be stopped.”
Milan () – “Erdogan tries to get Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace agreement and then he bombs our people here in Iraq…”. From Iraqi Kurdistan comes a bitter account of Fr. Samir Youssef, parish priest of Enishke in the diocese of Amadiya. He is a long-time friend of whom we have helped to support what his parish continues to do for the Christian refugees who fled Mosul eight years ago under the threat of ISIS, a large number of whom still live in these mountains. . But his parish is also very close to the Iraqi-Turkish border, where Erdogan’s new war offensive against the PKK Kurdish militias has been going on for months, and just an hour’s drive from Zakho, which this Wednesday was scene of the massacre of tourists in the park of a holiday resort. The attack left 9 dead, including three girls, one of whom was only 11 months old.
“These are very beautiful areas, there are rivers and waterfalls in these mountains – says Fr. Samir-. During the pandemic, tourism was paralyzed, but the situation had changed a few months ago. Especially in recent days, with the Eid festival, thousands of people had come. Iraqis who came from the south, from Baghdad and Basra, to escape the heat that has also been particularly intense here in recent weeks. And Arab tourists from the Gulf. Now they have returned home with 9 corpses and there is no one left.”
The area of the massacre had never been attacked. “In the videos that have been published – continues Fr. Samir- You can hear some tourists who are seeing the smoke rising in the mountains and ask if it is safe to stay there, and the guides reply that it is only dangerous in the highlands, as usual. But immediately afterwards the artillery fire arrives precisely at that place.” The Iraqi authorities speak of 155 mm projectiles fired by the Turkish army, Ankara denies this and the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has called for a “thorough investigation”. But meanwhile in these two days the shooting in the mountains above Zakho has continued, despite civilian casualties.
“The Turks are bombing everywhere in our mountains,” says the Chaldean priest. Every week we have two, three, ten people dead. That also happens in our Amadiya district. The PKK militias move through these mountains in their vehicles without license plates and go down to the villages to stock up on food. And the Turks don’t mind the presence of civilians when they can attack them. Once I was returning after celebrating mass in a village and some armed PKK militiamen made me stop the car. They forced me to take them to buy food. During those ten minutes of travel I prayed 40 or 50 Hail Marys; My legs were shaking, because in the sky there are always Turkish planes and drones looking for them. If they had seen us, surely they would have bombed us. Another time they were attacked at a service station where I had passed shortly before. When I came back, there wasn’t even the road left.”
The weakness of Iraqi institutions – aggravated today by the Shia internal power struggle between the Moqtada al-Sadr movement and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s pro-Iranians – certainly does not help to address the problem. “Today in Iraq everyone condemns Turkey for the attack – says Fr. Samir-. But what has been done so far? In Saddam’s time, Ankara had no business here. Then, in 1991, the second Gulf War came and the United States, in exchange for the possibility of using the Incirlik air base, allowed the Turkish army to enter Kurdistan with its own bases. The result is the current situation. With the added problems of water management. Turkey has built four huge dams that are drying up the Tigris and Euphrates. I am not saying that we are nostalgic for Saddam – the Iraqi priest clarifies – but Ankara must be stopped”.
Despite a thousand difficulties, the activities of the Enishke parish continue: “We continue to have many problems with electricity that comes and goes – explains Fr. Samir -. And here we also feel the consequences of the war in Ukraine: the prices have skyrocketed. We distribute the aid we have been able to buy thanks to the subscription to . In these weeks we are holding a summer camp with the children and catechists in our pastoral center. A sign of hope for the future”.
DO YOU WANT TO HELP CHRISTIANS LIVING IN THE MOUNTAINS OF KURDISTAN THROUGH ASIANEW’S “ADOPT A CHRISTIAN FROM MOSUL” CAMPAIGN?
FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS TO DONATE ON THIS LINK
DISCOVER IN THIS PAGE ALL ASIANEWS SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGNS THAT ARE ACTIVE AT THIS TIME.
Add Comment