Life in Iraq’s “Forbidden Zone”

Nestled in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan is the picturesque village of Sergele.

For generations, the peasants have been eating food from growing pomegranates, almonds and peaches and fodder in the surrounding forests for wild fruits and spices.

But Sergele, located 16 km (10 miles) from the border with Turkey, is becoming increasingly consoled by Turkish military bases, which are full of slopes.

One, halfway down the West Range, rises above the village and the other to the east is in the process of construction.

At least seven have been built here in the last two years, including one of a small dam that regulates the water supply of Sergele, which makes it beyond the peasants.

“This is a 100% form of occupation of Kurdish (Iraqi Kurdistan) lands,” says farmer Shervan Shervan Sergeli, who has lost access to part of his land.

“The Turks ruined him.”

Now Sergele is in danger of being drawn to what is known locally as a “forbidden zone” – a large strip of land in northern Iraq, affected by the Turkish war with the Kurdish military group PKK, which began a rebel in southern Turkey in 1984.

The forbidden area covers almost the entire length of the Iraqi border with Turkey and is up to 40 km (25 miles) depth in places.

Peacemaker Community teams, a human rights group based in Iraqi Kurdistan, says hundreds of civilians were killed by drones and air strikes in and around the forbidden area. According to a parliamentary report of Kurdistan in 2020, thousands were forced from their land and entire villages were emptied of the conflict.

Sergele is now effective on the front line of Turkey’s war with PKK.

When the BBC worldwide investigative team visited the area, the Turkish aircraft broke the mountains around the village to eradicate PKK fighters who had long operated on caves and tunnels in northern Iraq.

Much of the land around Sergele was burned by fire.

“The more bases they put, the more it becomes for us,” Shervan says.

Turkey is rapidly growing its military presence in the forbidden area in recent years, but so far the scale of this expansion has not been publicly known.

Using satellite images evaluated by experts and confirmed with on -site and open code, the BBC found that since December 2024 the Turkish military had built at least 136 fixed military installations in northern Iraq.

Through its huge network of military bases, Turkey is now conducting factual control over 2000 square km (772 square miles) from Iraqi land, the BBC analysis has found.

In addition, satellite images reveal that the Turkish military has built at least 660 km (410 miles) roads connecting its facilities. These delivery routes led to deforestation and left a lasting mark on the mountains of the region.

While several of the bases date back to the 1990s, 89% were built since 2018, after which Turkey began to significantly expand its military presence in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Turkish government did not respond to BBC’s requests for interviews, but maintained that its military bases were needed to repel PKK, which was designated as a terrorist organization from Ankara and a number of Western nations, including the UK.

The capital of the sub-circle of the Kani tables, which is only 4 km (2.5 miles) from the Iraqi-Turkish border and parts of which are in the forbidden area, can offer a view of the future of Sergele.

Once known for the production of apples, few residents remain here now.

The farmer Salam Said, whose land is in the shadow of a large Turkish base, has failed to cultivate his vineyard in the last three years.

“The moment you get here you will have a drone ass above you,” he says to the BBC.

“They will shoot you if you stay.”

The Turkish military was first established here in the 1990s and have been consolidating their presence since.

Its main military base, including concrete explosive walls, clock towers and communications and space for armored personal carriers to move inside, is much more developed than the smaller advanced inputs around Sergele.

Salam, like some other locals, believes that Turkey ultimately wants to claim the territory as its own.

“All they want is to leave these areas,” he adds.

Near Kani tables, BBC see firsthand how Turkish forces effectively repel the Iraqi border guards responsible for protecting the international borders of Iraq.

In several places, border guards were positioned in Iraqi territory, right against Turkish troops, incapable of going right to the border and potentially risking a collision.

“The posts you see are Turkish posts,” says General Farhad Mahmoud, aimed at the ridge right through the valley, about 10 km (6 miles) inside the Iraqi territory.

But “we can’t get to the border to know the number of posts,” he adds.

Turkey’s military expansion in Iraqi Kurdistan – fueled by its rise as a power of drones and a growing budget for defense – is seen as part of a broader displacement of foreign policy to more interventionism in the region.

Like its operations in Iraq, Turkey also seeks to create a buffer zone along its border with Syria to contain Syrian armed groups allied with PKK.

In public, the Iraq government has condemned Turkey’s military presence in the country. But behind the closed doors, she has accommodated some of Ankara’s demands.

In 2024, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in order to fight together with PKK.

But the BBC document does not set any restrictions on Turkish troops in Iraq.

Iraq depends on Turkey for trade, investment and water security, while its destroyed domestic policy further undermines the government’s ability to take a strong position.

The Iraq National Government did not respond to the BBC’s requests for comment.

Meanwhile, the rulers of the semi -autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan have a close relationship with Ankara based on mutual interests and often downplay the civil harm due to Turkey’s military action.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), an enemy of the PKK arch, dominates the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) and has been officially led since 2005 when the Iraq Constitution has provided its semi -autonomous status to the region.

The KDP’s close relationships with Turkey have contributed to the economic success of the region and strengthened its position, both against its regional political rivals and with the Iraqi government in Baghdad, which ignites more autonomy.

Hoshar Zebari, a senior member of KDP’s Politburo, seeks to blame PKK for Turkey’s presence in Iraqi Kurdistan.

“They (the Turkish military) do not harm our people,” he told the BBC.

“They do not keep them. They do not interfere with them to engage in their business. Their focus, their sole purpose is PKK.”

The conflict shows no signs of the end, despite the long -term PKK leader Abdullah Okalan in February, so that his fighters can put a weapon and dissolve.

Turkey continues to fire targets in Iraqi Kurdistan, while PKK claimed responsibility for the removal of a Turkish drone last month.

And while violence incidents in Turkey have declined since 2016, according to the NGO crisis group, those in Iraq have jumped, with civilians living in the border region facing a growing risk of death and displacing.

One of the killed was 24-year-old Alan Ismail, a cancer patient at a stage four, struck by an air strike in August 2023 while on an excursion to the mountain with his cousin Hashem Shaker.

The Turkish military denied a strike that day, but a police report observed by the BBC attributes the incident of a Turkish drone.

When Hashem filed a complaint with a local court regarding the attack by Kurdish security forces and detained for eight months on suspicion of supporting PKK, an accusation that he and his family refuse.

“It has destroyed us. It’s like the murder of the whole family,” says Ismail Chichu, Alan’s father.

“They (the Turks) have no right to kill people in their own country on their own land.”

Turkey’s Ministry of Defense did not respond to BBC’s requests for comment. Earlier, she told the media that the Turkish armed forces follow international law and that, in the planning and execution of their operations, they were only targeted at terrorists, while taking care of the harm of civilians.

The BBC has seen documents that suggest that Kurdish authorities may have acted to help Turkey avoid accountability for civil victims.

The confidential documents seen by the BBC show the Kurdish court ended the investigation into Alan’s murder, saying that the perpetrator was unknown.

And his death certificate – issued by the Kurdish authorities and seen by the BBC – says he died because of “explosive fragments”.

If it is not mentioned, when the victims of air strikes were killed as a result of violence rather than an accident, it makes it difficult to seek justice and compensation to both Iraqi and Kurdish law.

“In most death certificates, they wrote only” Infijar “, which means an explosion,” said Kamaran Otman of Peacemaker Community teams.

“This can be anything that bursts.

“I think the Kurdish regional government does not want to make Turkey responsible for what they do here.”

KRG said it acknowledges that “the tragic loss of civilians as a result of a military confrontation between the PKK and the Turkish army in the region.”

He added that “a number of victims” were documented as “civil martyrs”, which means that they were unfairly killed and entitled compensation.

Almost two years after Alan’s murder, his family is still waiting, if not for compensation, at least for recognition by KRG.

“They could at least send their condolences – we don’t need their compensation,” Ismail says.

“When something is gone, it is not forever.”