The local administration in Çukurca, a district of the southeastern Turkish province of Hakkari, mobilized to repopulate nine villages whose residents fled nearly three decades ago due to rampant terrorism by PKK.
Çukurca has been a flashpoint of PKK’s bloody campaign that started in the 1980s in Türkiye’s southeast. Acts of terrorism claimed thousands of lives in the region, from innocent civilians to soldiers and police officers. Taking advantage of the isolation of villages in mountainous areas, terrorists often hid out nearby, occasionally looting the villages or intimidating locals opposing their presence. Türkiye’s successful operations against the group in the past two decades reduced the PKK's presence in the region, which now opens up more to tourism instead of terrorism.
Nowadays, bulldozers and trucks are a common sight on serpentine roads connecting the villages and on the banks of roaring rivers. They flatten the rocky areas and reinforce the banks as the Hakkari governorate hopes that they can allocate more spaces for agricultural activities to encourage returns.
In the Kurudere region, where the terrorist group once set up “checkpoints” and held civilians hostage, roads are being expanded to improve transportation. Crews are also working on infrastructure projects to reinforce the electric grid in the region. Elsewhere, reclamation work is underway in agricultural fields and pastures to promote the cultivation of crops and livestock breeding.
Çukurca District Governor Mert Kumcu oversaw the work in the area and spoke to Anadolu Agency (AA) on Wednesday in the Kazan Valley, home to three villages. Kumcu pointed out that all of them were evacuated due to terrorism in 1995 (at the height of terrorist attacks), and only in the early 2000s did people start to return, although at a slow pace. “They usually come here in the summer to plant crops. These are fertile lands. We are laying asphalt on a 29-kilometer (18-mile) road here, and soon, all villages will have asphalt roads. So, locals can travel to their villages and fields more easily,” he said.
Kumcu said once the work is done and more locals return, they would hold events and festivals in the region to attract more people as tourists.
