Iraqi Kurds flee to Turkey as tensions simmer
Kurdish forces have fought alongside Iraqi troops in the battle against Daesh. But deep-rooted animosity has surfaced since the KRG held an independence referendum in September.
It's bumper to bumper at the Ibrahim Khalil crossing between Turkey and Iraq. Inside these cars are Kurds leaving northern Iraq. There's been a surge in recent weeks.
Tensions continue to rise in northern Iraq weeks after Shia militias backed by the Iraqi government seized areas held by the Kurdish Regional Government’s Peshmerga forces.
But a number of Iraqi Kurds are lining up at the border with Turkey, in an effort to leave the conflict behind.
"There has been an increase in the number of travellers because of the incidents in Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah and with the coming of Shia militia forces,” a taxi driver at the Ibrahim Khalil crossing between Turkey and Iraq says. “That means more work for us."
TRT World’s Rahul Radhakrishnan has more.
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