Farmers affected by Turkish strikes on PKK ++REPLAY: FIRST AVAILABLE 12 JUNE 2018++

Описание: (12 Jun 2018) IRAQ TURKEY PKK
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTIONS: AP CLIENTS ONLY
LENGTH: 2:21

++REPLAY: FIRST AVAILABLE 12 JUNE 2018++
ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Mizhe - 10 June 2018
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
1. Various of mountains
2. Various of village
3. Selim Ahmed walking to his beehives
4. SOUNDBITE (Kurdish) Selim Ahmed, Mizhe resident:
"It was not as bad as it is now. Now we have planes flying over 24 hours a day and the warplanes are also flying at night and two days ago they flew all night and they bombed the Gara mountain area. It is true that we are from the village but women and kids cannot live here. I come to work here but my family cannot come."
5. Various of beehives
6. SOUNDBITE (Kurdish) Selim Ahmed, Mizhe resident:
"Believe me, I planted tomatoes here but when I go to water them it's very scary because of the airstrikes. And the planes are flying continuously and so farming is finished here now because people are too afraid to work here."
7. Various of village and mountains
8. Family outside building
9. SOUNDBITE (Kurdish) Madina Mohammed, villager:
"Things are not so good because the planes keep coming and they are very loud and they make a big mess. The PKK comes and goes and they have positions at the edge of the village. Just go to the some other place, your own land. Why make clashes here, we've just been liberated and you are bringing the Turks here."
10. Various of village and mountains
LEADIN:
Farmers in the north of Iraq say Turkish airstrikes are ruining their lives.
The jets are targeting strongholds of the Kurdish rebel PKK group.
STORYLINE:
Iraq's mountainous north looks tranquil today. But the villagers living close to the Turkish border are in a state of fear.
Airstrikes by Turkish jets on militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are making life increasingly difficult in their area.
Many villages have been emptied of people because of the fighting.
Mizhe resident Selim Ahmed still comes here to tend to his beehives.
"We have planes flying over 24 hours a day and the warplanes are also flying at night and two days ago they flew all night and they bombed the Gara mountain area," he says.
"It is true that we are from the village but women and kids cannot live here. I come to work here but my family cannot come."
He says visiting to water his tomatoes is "very scary".
"Farming is finished here now because people are too afraid to work here," he adds.
Recently, military activity has picked up as Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to invade Qandil, the guerrillas' main mountain stronghold.
Turkish forces have even set up positions inside Iraq, increasing their activities against the PKK.
The PKK has controlled these mountains and valleys for the past 20 years, using it as a base for its insurgency in south eastern Turkey.
But some villagers want them to leave.
"The PKK comes and goes and they have positions at the edge of the village," says Madina Mohammed.
"Just go to the some other place, your own land. Why make clashes here, we've just been liberated and you are bringing the Turks here."
Turkey's military says its warplanes have struck 12 Kurdish rebel targets in overnight raids, hitting shelters, weapon positions and ammunition depots used by PKK, in northern Iraq's Hakurk, Avasin-Basyan and Qandil regions.
Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli says Ankara has reinforced its military bases in northern Iraq and will remain in the region until the PKK ceases to be threat to Turkey.
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