Journey through Kurdistan and Mesopotamia

I arrived with a friend in Kurdistan during a long journey through Turkey, crossing the Euphrates by ferry right after visiting Nemrut Dagi (see "journey through Turkey-part one"). On the other side of the river we are in another world: vast prairies whose end cannot be seen, villages of tents where nomads are camped and a great, immense poverty; it is another Turkey, far from the elegance of the touristic western part. And indeed here we are in Kurdistan, a territory claimed by the Kurds, a people without a land who live astride Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq, and right here, in the Turkish part, is their symbolic capital, Diyarbakir, where we are heading.

The road is good but it feels like being on a roller coaster because it follows the lines of the hills, so it climbs steeply and then plunges impressively, but traffic is almost non-existent and so it is almost a pleasure to drive along it. Diyarbakir is partly walled, but as soon as we enter the old town a feeling of bewilderment, of fear comes over us. We park in a long avenue but even while walking we never lose sight of our car, the Fiat Punto with which we set off from Italy. It is an unimaginable chaos: shops crammed with spices or slightly dated household appliances, the typical smells of an Islamic market pervade the air, rather dirty and shabbily dressed boys carry goods on handcarts, cutting through the crowd, while the Islamic call to prayer spreads from the minarets. We cannot stay here long, we are too tense, so we take the car again and head back west.

More half-deserted roads, whole stretches without a tree and then another large chaotic city, Sanli Urfa. Kurdistan is not a well-defined territory; some consider it to begin right after the end of the Anatolian peninsula, others a little further east, but certainly here, beyond the Euphrates, in the north of historic Mesopotamia, we are in the land of the Kurds. We quickly pass through the chaotic centre of Sanli Urfa, an ancient city also known to the Holy Scriptures, and head south towards the border with Syria. We stop 18 km from the frontier, at Haran, the village where Abraham is said to have been born. Although surrounded by Kurdish territory, this village seems not to have historically belonged to Kurdistan. Certainly Harran is an out-of-this-world place, entirely surrounded by uncultivated, stony and desert land.

The dwellings resemble a little the trulli of Alberobello; they are of pale clay and serve mainly as storerooms for goods, because the people live in the courtyard. Indeed it is very hot and it never rains, so the locals spread a carpet and sit on it to eat, while for sleeping they use either the roofs or large beds that hold the whole numerous family. When we arrive we are the only tourists and we are immediately caught by a flock of bare-backed boys who, posing as official guides, take us to a family from whom they will take a cut. From that moment we are in the hands of the head of the family, who presents his numerous children, dresses us like them, as Arabs, shows us his house while foisting a couple of knick-knacks on us, and seats us on the carpet with his family to drink tea.

The women wear the veil, a sign that here Islamic traditions are fully respected, and they do not seem to give us much confidence. The same boys who had led us here invite us to see the local attraction, a caravanserai. It is night, public lighting is non-existent, the caravanserai is open and the boys take us inside; our path is lit by the many stars and by the light of a mobile phone. We prefer to go back rather than be at the mercy of these crafty boys. For the night we will sleep on a roof, no walls and a beautiful starry sky overhead. Unfortunately also no mattress, just a few blankets to make the surface less hard. The family hosting us, however, climbs onto its large bed whose legs are 3 or 4 metres high!! Obviously we do not sleep well, both because of the improbable bed and because we keep an eye on the car in the courtyard.

The next morning we head back north and, bypassing Sanli Urfa, continue west; crossing the Euphrates we probably leave Kurdistan and certainly Mesopotamia. (For the continuation of the itinerary in Turkey see "journey through Turkey-part two")