Kurdish Refugee Crisis 1991
Information
At the end of the first Gulf War the Kurds in the north of the country rebelled against the rule of Saddam Hussein. Hussein sent the elite Revolutionary Guards north to brutelly crush the uprising. This forced the Kurds to flee to Iran and Turkey. I decided to try to get into Iran with a colleague to record the events. Most journalists were heading to the Turkish boarder as this was logistically easier. The Iranians were keen to get coverage of the camps in Iran and granted us press visa's in a couple of hours. We contacted a cargo company flying aid to Tabriz who were happy for us to join them. We linked up with a couple of Dutch TV journalist and travelled down to Iraq towards the city of Sulaymaniyah near Kirkuk. It was quite a hairy trip as fighting along the boarder was on going. The sight of experienced journalists throwing up around me because they were so freaked out about the gunfire made me think twice about doing something like this again.
Food being distributed at a temporary refugee camp along the Iran/Iraq boarder near Sulaymaniyeh, Iraq.
Kurdish men queuing for food at a temporary refugee camp along the Iran/Iraq boarder near Sulaymaniyeh, Iraq.
A young girl sleeping in a makeshift shelter dug by her parents. On the road to Sardasht, Iran.
Kurdish refugees on the road to Sardasht, Iran.
Crossing the Little Zab river which marks the Iran/Iraq boarder.
A man washing at a temporary refugee camp along the Iran/Iraq boarder near Sulaymaniyeh, Iraq.
An elderly man resting at a temporary refugee camp along the Iran/Iraq boarder near Sulaymaniyeh, Iraq.
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters retreating from Iraqi forces near the city of Sulaymaniyeh, Iraq.
Taking everything they can carry as they flee.
Crossing the Little Zab river which marks the Iran/Iraq boarder.
A father with his son and daughter in a makeshift shelter. On the road to Sardasht, Iran.
An elderly woman lays down exhausted and unable to walk further along the Iran/Iraq boarder near Sulaymaniyeh, Iraq.
Kurdish men at a refugee processing centre in the town of Sardasht, Iran.
Me on the back of our truck near Sulaymaniyeh, Iraq.
