After Decades of Conflict, Calm Allows Kurdish Border Villages to Rebuild Lives

The Kurdistan Post

In a scene that few believed possible only months ago, the residents of Keshan, a Kurdish village in Zakho Independent Administration near the Turkish border, gathered this week to celebrate their annual village festival for the first time after decades. The event, once interrupted by cross-border violence between The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Türkiye, has returned as a powerful symbol of peace, resilience, and renewal for border communities that have endured decades of insecurity.

The village’s annual festival, organized for the first time on such a scale, brought together farmers, families, and local producers to display agricultural goods unique to the region — including grapes, sumac, and fresh vegetables cultivated on lands that were long inaccessible due to military activity.