Kormori Bchwk - the Forgotten Village
Kak Hassan and other villagers explaining their struggle to CPT. Photo by: Kasia Protz.
“They promised us many job opportunities and a better road. However only two men were hired over the last two years. Most of us have to work outside the village now, we were hoping for jobs with Dana Gas but they lied to us!"
Five other men nod in affirmation as Kak Hassan tells the CPT team of some of the hardships his community faces daily from the presence of their unwanted powerful neighbor. Kormori Bchwk (Small Kormor) is a remote village of 22 families, seven out of which live there permanently and fifteen seasonally. It is not easy to find Kormor, especially coming from Sulaimani, which lies some two and half hours of drive away. It is surrounded by thousands of low treeless hills stretching for miles in all directions and towards the nearby unclear borderline between Kurdistan and what is left of Iraq and just a recent front-line against Daesh (ISIS). This scarcely populated area which Saddam Hussein turned into an example of his commitment to genocide Kurds, falls under the sphere of administration of the district mayor of Chamchamal, which lies some 90 km away, and under the sub-district mayor of the nearest town of Qadir Karam.