kirkuki
Member
For nearly 30 years the Kurdish guerrilla group PKK, classified by the U.S. and the EU as terrorist group, has been fighting from their base in the Kandil Mountains of KRG for the recognition of the Kurdish identity in Turkey. More than 35 million Kurds, the largest ethnic group without a state of their own, live in the four-country corner of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Usually relentlessly pursued by their own countries Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi militias are fighting alongside the PKK against their own governments.
In March 2012, I went on a tour of KRG to visit various groups. It all started with a visit to one of Iranian Kurdish refugee camps in which Kurds from the Iranian-Iraqi border area have been living for over 20 years from . Most residents have given up any hope of a return, only armed resistance remains as a choice for them.
Afterwards I visited the PKK in the Kandil Mountains in the wake of the Kurdish-Persian New Year, Nowruz. As many as 20,000 civilians from the region, including Yazidis, Christians and Arabs, expressed their solidarity with the PKK through their visit. The guerrilla group is correspondingly still strongly anchored in the regional population and so can continuously fill their ranks with new fighters. This is especially so since peace talks with the Turkish AKP seems to have receded into the far distance.
At the end of my stay I traveled to the Iranian border with the Iranian Kurdish PJAK guerrillas, an offshoot of the PKK. There I accompanied the guerrillas with my camera during their daily rounds as well as being under the constant threat of bombardment by Iranian artillery or Turkish warplanes. Civilian structures in the region are often attacked as evidenced by destroyed school.As all the inhabitants of the Qandil Mountains seem to be terrorists in the eyes of Iran and Ankara, no distinction between combatants and civilians is made.
Benjamin Hiller was born in 1982 into a German-American family. He began to engage himself with journalism, culture and photography quite early on. After several semesters of studying anthropology in Heidelberg (with emphasis on ritual dynamics and visual anthropology) and a classical trade school training in photography, he began an independent career as a freelance photojournalist in 2008. Since then he has concentrated his efforts on the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, and generally in conflict journalism in the Near- and Middle-East. His photographs and articles have been published in national and international newspapers and magazines. He is currently living in Berlin.
Between Terrorist and Freedom-Fighter: The PKK enters the 28th Year of Fighting
In March 2012, I went on a tour of KRG to visit various groups. It all started with a visit to one of Iranian Kurdish refugee camps in which Kurds from the Iranian-Iraqi border area have been living for over 20 years from . Most residents have given up any hope of a return, only armed resistance remains as a choice for them.
Afterwards I visited the PKK in the Kandil Mountains in the wake of the Kurdish-Persian New Year, Nowruz. As many as 20,000 civilians from the region, including Yazidis, Christians and Arabs, expressed their solidarity with the PKK through their visit. The guerrilla group is correspondingly still strongly anchored in the regional population and so can continuously fill their ranks with new fighters. This is especially so since peace talks with the Turkish AKP seems to have receded into the far distance.
At the end of my stay I traveled to the Iranian border with the Iranian Kurdish PJAK guerrillas, an offshoot of the PKK. There I accompanied the guerrillas with my camera during their daily rounds as well as being under the constant threat of bombardment by Iranian artillery or Turkish warplanes. Civilian structures in the region are often attacked as evidenced by destroyed school.As all the inhabitants of the Qandil Mountains seem to be terrorists in the eyes of Iran and Ankara, no distinction between combatants and civilians is made.
Benjamin Hiller was born in 1982 into a German-American family. He began to engage himself with journalism, culture and photography quite early on. After several semesters of studying anthropology in Heidelberg (with emphasis on ritual dynamics and visual anthropology) and a classical trade school training in photography, he began an independent career as a freelance photojournalist in 2008. Since then he has concentrated his efforts on the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, and generally in conflict journalism in the Near- and Middle-East. His photographs and articles have been published in national and international newspapers and magazines. He is currently living in Berlin.
Between Terrorist and Freedom-Fighter: The PKK enters the 28th Year of Fighting
