Random pictures from Kurdistan

Various images from work and hikes in Kurdistan…

Burning oil and destroyed train station in Ninewa

Oil from Syria pollutes a stream running across the border into Iraq. To protect the sheep local shepherds set fire to the stream.
Owenat train station was used by the Iraqi army until 2014, when it was overrun by Daesh and used as a base until it was bombed by allegedly Syrian planes.

The Ancient City of Babylon

Some images from the ruined city of Babylon, where kings reigned,  laws were codified and Saddam Hussein built a palace smack in the middle.

Bread and more

From a small community close to Duhok…

Baghdad – a battered city

A few pictures from Iraq’s battered capital…

IDP camps in Anbar

Images from Anbar, the largest governorate in Iraq saw intense fighting since 2014 as Daesh took and later lost Fallujah, Ramadi and Hit. The bridge depicted crosses Euphrates leading from Baghdad to Anbar.

IDP camps in Kurdistan

Pictures of Yazidis and Jahish in camps in Duhok and Dibaga (Erbil), Kurdistan

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Sunset Football

Boys playing football on an uneven and rather dusty field as the sun set around them…

Gallipoli

Pics from a visit to the Gallipoli peninsula, where British, Australian, New Zealanders, and French troops landed on 25 April 1915 with the aim of closing off the Dardanelles and seizing Istanbul to knock Turkey out of the war. Instead it turned into bloody trench warfare with tens of thousands of killed and injured on both sides until the Allied powers nine months later withdrew having realised the futility of the operation.

Istanbul II

More pictures from street life in Istanbul and a few famous landmarks…