Shkoi Kurdistan-
Turkish border guards are preventing Kurdish villagers in northwest Iran from pulling out the bodies of five kolbars (cross-border labor is a worker who is employed to carry goods on his/her back across the borders of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey legally or illegally ) who were buried during an avalanche on Monday, two residents from the village said.
Several Kurdish human rights organisations reported that five kolbars from Iran’s Kuran village were buried during an avalanche on Monday in Van province, as they tried to cross the border into Iran.
“We tried to cross the border to pull out the bodies by the Turkish security forces, but an outpost prevented us,” Hakem Ahmadi, a resident of the village reached via telephone, told Rudaw English on Wednesday. “It is very sad, the families are crying, but we cannot do anything.”
Another resident confirmed that the bodies are still under the snow, saying villagers are “desperate” to go and pull them out. “All we want is to be able to reach the site and pull out the bodies,” Makum Ahmadi told Rudaw English.
The incident happened on Monday on the Turkish side of the border, as a group of eight kolbars were making their way back to Iran, reportedly transporting cigarettes.
Three of the kolbars survived, but Rudaw was not able to reach them.
The office of the Governor of Van denied that an avalanche took place in the province in a statement on Monday, saying they had sent a search team to the area to investigate the incident. They only acknowledged an incident on the Iranian side of the border, saying it involved nine Iranian citizens.
Rudaw English contacted the Governor of Van’s office on Wednesday for further comment, but was not able to reach a representative.
“Bilend Ahmadi, Matin Aslani, Yawar Aslani, Furat Khedri, Molayee Khodayee,” are the names of the missing kolbars, Hakem Ahmadi noted, saying they include a pair of cousins.
Kuran, home to around 200 families, is surrounded on three sides by mountains, a small river dissecting it into two. In the near distance stand both Iranian and Turkish border observation posts.
Kuran village in West Azerbaijan province has gained a reputation for the large number of kolbars killed by both Turkish and Iranian border guards. Last year, two brothers Shamzin and Arsalan Ahmadi were shot and killed by Iranian and Turkish border guards within two months of each other.
Around 52 kolbars were killed in 2020 and 147 were injured, 46 of whom were shot by shootings of Iranian and Turkish border guards, according to the latest data given to the media from the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Over 70,000 mostly young Kurds resort to carrying goods on their back in the border areas with Turkey and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to make a living in one of the most impoverished areas of Iran.
