Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Deep in Kurdish territory

• Mark Mardell
• 18 Jul 07, 12:00 PM

SOUTH-EASTERN TURKEY: Airline etiquette shifts as you move towards the rural east in Europe, and the tendency carries on in the south-east of Turkey. As we land in Diyarbakir a ripple of applause moves through the plane. True, it had been a bit of a bumpy landing, but what's all this about? You can't imagine people in France and Germany doing it. It's true Israelis do, but I always thought that was patriotic relief at arriving in the homeland. I've heard British package tourists do it too, and I'm not sure why.

The other constant, that goes with applause, is that people are desperate to get up and be off, jostling each other to get their bags and stand up even though there will be a 20-minute wait before the doors open. True to form, women in colourful traditional dress jumped up and hauled their luggage out of the overhead lockers.

The pilot made the traditional "Please don't unfasten your seat belts until the plane has stopped moving" plea, but perhaps the applause hadn't been long or loud enough. He slammed on the brakes. I've never seen it done before. The women crashed into each other and landed heavily back in their seats uttering what I supposed were colourful and traditional oaths.

The Silk Road running past the Turkish-Syrian border is not named for its smoothness. For mile after mile we drive through the tawny brown hills, on one side of the road runs a tall barbed wire fence and watch towers. Beyond that, charred blackened land, peppered with mines I'm told.

The driver swerves from side to side, to avoid the many potholes. Suddenly we come upon a section of road with brightly and freshly painted white lines, guarded by plastic cones. "We don't have roads, but we've got the lines," observes the driver wryly.

We're heading for the border with Iraq, where that country's foreign minister claims the Turks have massed 140,000 troops. This is deep in Kurdish territory but the only sign of the army we've seen so far is one checkpoint, with a fearsome armoured car and a rather scrawny looking young recruit.

The landscape is not unlike some parts of Spain, arid and undulating, but it is still weird to think that this one day maybe the boundary of the European Union, literally bordering Iraq and Syria.

That is I suppose the point of those who say most of Turkey is not Europe. But I tell you there is an even more distinct lack of the North Atlantic. Not a drop of sea in sight, and none of the land is anywhere near that body of water. But I don't remember many protests when Turkey joined the

• Permalink
• Comments