Kate Eshelby

Away from the herd

The herders are under pressure not just from Isis, but from a thrusting new urban culture

Photo credit: KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images 
issue 16 May 2015

 Erbil, Iraq

The Kurds here are fighting Isis — everyone knows that. Most of us are at least peripherally aware that the brave Peshmerga (Kurdish militia) have proved an effective force against the Islamists, and we cheer them on. What we don’t realise is that as they battle the world’s latest bogeyman, the Kurds are also simultaneously suffering from another sort of crisis.

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