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TURKIYE: Deep in the mountains of Turkiye’s southeastern Hakkari province, bordering Iran and Iraq, Kurdish livestock owners and farmers have gradually returned with their animals after decades of armed conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish army.

“We’ve been coming here for a long time. Thirty years ago we used to come and go, but then we couldn’t come. Now we just started to come again and to bring our animals as we want,” said 57-year-old Selahattin Irinc, speaking Kurdish, while gently pressing his hand on a sheep’s neck to keep it from moving during shearing.

On July 11 a symbolic weapons destruction ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan marked a major step in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics – part of a broader effort to end one of the region’s longest-running conflicts.

The PKK, listed as a terror group by Turkiye and much of the international community, was formed in 1978 by Ankara University students, with the ultimate goal of achieving the Kurds’ liberation. It took up arms in 1984.

The conflict has caused 50,000 deaths among civilians and 2,000 among soldiers, according to Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Alongside with several other men and women, Irinc practices animal husbandry in the grassy highlands at the foot of the Cilo Mountains and its Resko peak, which stands as the second-highest in the country with an altitude of 4,137 meters (13,572 feet).

A place of scenic beauty, with waterfalls, glacial lakes and trekking routes, Cilo has gradually opened its roads over the past few years to shepherds and tourists alike as the armed conflict with PKK died down on the backdrop of peace negotiations.

But the picturesque mountains had long been the scene of heavy fighting between the Turkish army and PKK fighters who took advantage of the rough terrain to hide and strike. It left the Kurdish farmers often at odds with the army.

“In the past we always had problems with the Turkish soldiers. They accused us of helping PKK fighters by feeding them things like milk and meat from our herd,” another Kurdish livestock owner, who asked not to be named, said, rejecting such claims.

“Now it’s calmer,” he added.

Although the peace process brought more openness and ease to the region, tensions did not vanish overnight.

Checkpoints remain present around the city of Hakkari, and also to the main access point to the trekking path leading to Cilo glacier, a major tourist attraction.

“Life is quite good and it’s very beautiful here. Tourists come and stay in the mountains for one or two days with their tents, food, water and so on,” said farmer Mahir Irinc.

But the mountains are a hard, demanding environment for those making a living in their imposing shadow, and the 37-year-old thinks his generation might be the last to do animal husbandry far away from the city.

“I don’t think a new generation will come after us. We will be happy if it does, but the young people nowadays don’t want to raise animals, they just do whatever job is easier,” he lamented.

An open truck carrying more than a dozen Kurdish women made its way to another farm in the heart of the mountains, where sheep waited to be fed and milked.

The livestock graze at the foot of the mountains for three to four months, while the weather is warm, before being brought back to the village.

“We all work here. Mothers, sisters, our whole family. Normally I’m preparing for university, but today I was forced to come because my mother is sick,” explained 22-year-old Hicran Denis.

“I told my mother: don’t do this anymore, because it’s so tiring. But when you live in a village, livestock is the only work. There’s nothing else,” she said.

The World Health Organization said the Israeli military attacked its staff residence and main warehouse in the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah on Monday, compromising its operations in Gaza.

The United Nations agency said the WHO staff residence was attacked three times, with airstrikes causing a fire and extensive damage, and endangering staff and their families, including children.

Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern districts of Deir Al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes hostages may be held. Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said.

“Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot, and screened at gunpoint,” WHO said.

Two WHO staff and two family members were detained, it said in a post on X, adding that three were later released, while one staff member remained in detention.

“WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Deir Al-Balah is packed with Palestinians displaced during more than 21 months of war in Gaza, hundreds of whom fled west or south after Israel issued an evacuation order, saying it sought to destroy infrastructure and capabilities of the militant group Hamas.

WHO said its main warehouse, located within an evacuation zone, was damaged on Sunday due to an attack that triggered explosions and a fire inside.

WHO stated it will remain in Deir Al-Balah and expand its operations despite the attacks.

Britain and more than 20 other countries called on Monday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and criticized the Israeli government’s aid delivery model after hundreds of Palestinians were killed near sites distributing food.

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

The Israeli military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed over 59,000 Palestinians, according to health officials, displaced almost the entire population, and caused a humanitarian crisis.

The World Health Organization describes the health sector in Gaza as being “on its knees,” with shortages of fuel, medical supplies and frequent mass casualty influxes.