Day 8 in Hasankeyf

Today I took a mid morning bus to Hasankeyf, a village of around 3,000 people an hour north of Midyat where I’m staying. Stepping out of the bus, I was stunned. Hasankeyf is without a doubt one of the most incredible, unique and downright gorgeous places I’ve ever visited. The village is situated in a gorge on the Tigris river. I set off walking and quickly found my way to the narrow valley filled with formerly inhabited caves. I made my way to the top of one of the hills/mountains where the remains of dozens of homes, a graveyard, old mosque and castle sit. The view was simply breathtaking. Unlike cramped Germany, Turkey has plenty of room and it was a wonderful change to stare off into nothingness with no villages, autobahns or shopping centers

After ambling around the rather large area, I chanced upon the caretaker, an Arab working for the Ministry of Culture making sure tourists didn’t go into the excavation sites nor near dangerous ledges. According to him, the foreign tourists with the except of the Japanese listened and abided by the rules whereas the worst were the Turkish tourists who acted “like they own the place.” We talked for a good half hour about, among other things, the GAP project which will eventually flood the entire area and destroy the village and all the archeaological areas there. His theory is that if Iraqi Kurdistan becomes independent, the Turkish government will definitely build the damn and flood the area to dam off the Tigris and try to cut the water to any independent Kurdistan. An interesting and not unrealistic theory either in my opinion, but it’s surely more complicated. Yet, I do imagine he’s touched on one of the important factors currently under consideration related to the dam.

After our chat, I headed down and stopped to eat at a restaurant built into the rock eating a lamb shish kebab and fresh salad. Being very small, I’d seen the entire village after about an hour or two more and headed back for the main road to wait for a minibus to Midyat.

I waited with another Turkish fellow who after asking where I was from and a short silence, said “Iraq?” in a question-like tone. He held his hand out next to him indicating that he meant children, then said “America” and made mimed a gun firing. Shocked, I shook my head and said no, doing the same with “Al Qaeda” instead. He didn’t agree.

Once we got on the bus, he began chatting about what I’m fairly sure to be me when the man next to me began speaking in English. He translated and we continued our conversation a little. I told him I thought the chaos and killing was bad but that Kurdistan was great which seemed to be a good out. Yet, my interpreter continued talking and noting his enthusiasm, I asked about his ethnicity. Kurdish. He immedietly shook my hand and told me he was very happy about Iraq. Asking the usual, he responded that he indeed supported an independent Kurdistan, including the relevant parts of Turkey. I said in a low voice that I agreed, not wanting to start any further discussion with other passengers, much to his pleasing. “American and Kurds are brothers” he continued, something I’ve heard many times in the week I’ve been here. If the Turkish Kurds are this enamoured with American, I can only imagine the response I’ll get in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Arriving back in Midyat, I inquired about the bus to Silopi, the border town with Iraq. As far as I can tell, there’s one at 7am and I damn sure hope it wasn’t a misunderstanding as often happens. So tomorrow I’m off for the border and will aim to be in Dohuk by evening. My bus will take my through Cizre on the border with Syria and head southeast to Silopi. Although its not necessarily a given, I should cross there into Zakho (the first town on the Iraqi side of the border) and head one more hour south to Dohuk.

Here are today’s pictures: