"Winning Kurdish Hearts and Minds
[Orgininally published in Turkish Daily News]
The family of Hacı Ulaş, a Kurdish 'village guard' that serves the Turkish state
Hasan Uğur is a “haci,” a word used to describe pilgrims to the Kaaba, the Muslim holy shrine in Mecca. Like many hacis, he has a nicely trimmed beard and wears a kippa-like cap. After some comments in Kurdish and some prayers in Arabic, he kindly passes loaves of bread and dishes of goat meat to me and a dozen other men, who are all brothers, nephews or grandsons of Uğur, and are all sitting on the same carpet. This is one of the handful of houses in the Dalbudak Mezrası, a mini village tied to Ergani, a province of Diyarbakır."
More:The White Path: Winning Kurdish Hearts and Minds