‘Another Bit of Fire’ Lighting on Turkey’s Kurds

It’s harvest season in this drab, sunbaked village in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast. But few of Bagdere’s 2,000 or so residents are talking about the quality of the wheat and lentil crops this year. The hottest topic these days is the foreigners they expect will descend on the village Wednesday to view the last total solar eclipse of the millennium.

“I’ve never seen an eclipse, nor have I ever seen any foreigners before,” said Nihal, 13, wearing an Islamic-style head scarf wound tightly to cover her hair, nose and lips. “Can they speak Turkish?”

Like many here, Nihal has joined in preparations to host 500 foreign visitors, most of them astronomers and scientists, including a team from NASA.

Located 30 miles east of the provincial capital, Diyarbakir, Bagdere is situated in a corridor stretching from the Atlantic to India from which the full solar eclipse can be viewed, according to NASA data. Officials at the space agency confirm that the best weather conditions along the eclipse path are forecast for Turkey, Iraq and Iran.

What sets Bagdere apart from most other optimal viewing sites, however, is that it also lies in the heart of a region racked by nearly 15 years of bloody fighting between Turkish security forces and rebels of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that has claimed more than 30,000 lives.

“The PKK has made life an absolute hell for us,” said Musa Bozar, a farmer expressing a sentiment that appears widespread in the village. “If it weren’t for this war, we would be leading a much better life. There would be more investment, more schools, more hospitals.”

Bozar was referring to a sustained rebel campaign of burning down state-owned equipment, factories and schools and killing state employees, including teachers, who are accused of seeking to “colonize and assimilate” the country’s estimated 12 million Kurds.

In a further bid to undermine Turkey’s economy, the rebels have been targeting the country’s multibillion-dollar tourist trade. Tourism officials acknowledge a 20% drop in the number of foreign visitors this year compared with 1998.

After PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan’s capture in February, the rebels warned tourists to stay away from Turkey or risk getting “caught in the bloodshed.”

Ocalan, whom a Turkish court sentenced to death on treason charges in June, appealed to his followers this week to abandon their fight for Kurdish independence. But just as Ocalan’s call was being relayed through his lawyers in Istanbul, there were reports of a fresh rebel attack in Silvan, about 12 miles from Bagdere. Six villagers, including two children, were killed in the attack; the rebels have denied responsibility and have since said they will comply with Ocalan’s appeal.

Western governments, including the U.S., continue to advise their citizens against traveling to the Kurdish region. And so far, about 2,000 foreigners who were due in Turkey for the eclipse have canceled their bookings.

“They [the PKK] say they are helping us Kurds, so why are they keeping the foreigners away and preventing me from earning my bread?” asked Nimet Carik, another Bagdere farmer, who expressed fears that the recent attack would deter visitors from coming.

But regional Gov. Engin Durmaz, who is supervising eclipse preparations here, confidently dismissed such concerns as “nonsense.”

“Look at this place,” he said, pointing to a vast stretch of flat ocher fields. “No terrorists can come here without being seen and caught.”

Durmaz said his chief worry is how the foreigners will cope with the scorching heat. Temperatures are expected to soar above 110 degrees around the time of the eclipse, which will take place shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Another problem, Durmaz said, is making locals understand the risk to their eyesight if they look at the sun unprotected when the eclipse takes place.

“They obviously cannot afford the sort of viewing equipment needed,” Durmaz said, “and even if they could, where would they buy it?”

But some enterprising locals already have come up with an alternative--viewing the eclipse through large shards of glass that have been glazed by dung fires.

“We’re used to danger in these parts,” farmer Bozar said. “What’s the sun but another bit of fire?”