NEWS CENTER - Entry to the highlands in the Federated Kurdistan Region has been banned due to Turkey's attacks. Making a living from beekeeping, Yusuf Elî Şerîf said, "As the region is bombed, Turkey's soldiers prevent us from going to the highlands."

 

Dozens of families living in the Makhmur district of Mosul province earn their living by beekeeping. Families that feed their bees in the Makhmur district center during the winter go to the highlands with the arrival of spring. Families who go to the highlands every summer due to the  hot weather and natural conditions in Mosul were prohibited this year due to the attacks launched by AKP-KDP against Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna in the Federated Kurdistan Region.

 

Yusuf Elî Şerîf, who has been beekeeping in the region since 2006, said that it is now impossible to go to the highlands due to the bans of Turkey and its partner KDP. Yusuf Elî Şerîf said: “All the laws of nature came out of the order of bees. The importance of bees in the ecosystem and their benefits for humanity is very important. Especially the honey produced by bees is a medicine for many diseases."

 

'IT IS NOT A GOVERNMENT, IT IS A PASSIVE GROUP

 

Stating that the soldiers forbid the people from entering the Sîdekan, Lûlan and Xinere highlands, Yusuf Elî Şerîf said, “Turkey is preventing us from going to our highlands. Highlands are bombed every day. Iran is attacking as well.  There is a regional government in Bashur, but it is very passive. Turkey and Iran hit us with artillery and warplanes every day, but the Regional Government does not show any reaction against it. It is like they are not a government but just a group of armed forces, ruling the region because Turkey and Iran are plundering the nature of Kurdistan with both their military attacks and their technologies. However, the government does not react to it." 

 

'WE WANT TO BE FREE'

 

Expressing that he has 500 bees left due to the current conditions and developments, Yusuf Elî Şerîf continued: “Thousands of bees died due to heat and dust. The government does not help us and does not take care of us. We sell the honey we produce with our own means in the markets of Baghdad, Hewler and Kirkuk. A solution is urgently needed for our problems. How long will this go on? The suffering and difficulties of the people in 4 parts of Kurdistan should be recognised. I hope that the oppression and occupation on the whole of Kurdistan will come to end. We, like all the peoples of the world, want our freedom and we want to live humanely. How long will we live under the attacks?"