KRG trench divides Syrian, Iraqi Kurds
The ditch dug by the Kurdistan Regional Government at Rojava, separating Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, adds another layer of complexity to the regional conflict.
Of all those who have cursed Sykes-Picot, it was no doubt the Kurds who lamented the most, as the agreement divided a Kurdistan already split between Iran and the Ottomans and turned normal relations between villages into "smuggling." Poet Ahmet Arif put it best when he moaned, “We don’t know what passports are / for which we will be killed / from now on they will be call us bandits, brigands, smugglers and robbers.”
While talks explored the best way to unite four pieces of Kurdistan known as Bakur (north), Bashur (south), Rojhilat (east) and Rojava (west) scattered in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria and the idea a "Kurdish spring" followed Rojava's declaration of autonomy, Kurdish hopes were again split, this time by a giant ditch.
The decision by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) under President Massoud Barzani to dig a ditch between Rojava and Bashur in Iraq’s north led to a major debate among all Kurds, including those in Turkey. The Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), denounced the trench in a series of statements.
The 3-meter-wide, 2-meter-deep ditch will stretch for 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) from the junction of the Euphrates River with South Kurdistan to Walid Point and be guarded by Iraqi peshmerga forces north of Tilkocher. The temporary bridge at Semelka (Peshbaur), the KRG administration center occasionally opened for use since May 2012, was dismantled. Occasional fire by peshmerga on the Rojava Kurds vehemently protesting the digging of the ditch led to some casualties. Ten tents erected to stage protests by Rojava Kurds from Dirbespiye, Amude, Kamihsli, Tribesbiye and Girke Lege became permanent fixtures.
