As it happens every time I travel to the southeast corner of Turkey, this time too I had the feeling that I wasn’t only in another land but in another planet. The heaviest snowfall of last 20 years had covered the entire region with purest white, filling one with incredibly enchanting and mystical sensations.

This is what happens every time I travel to Hakkari. Hakkari is the only Turkish province that has common borders both with Iran and Iraq. It wouldn’t be out of place to call this province, “the hotbed of Kurdish insurgency.” The first bullet of the PKK’s armed struggle that began in 1984 was fired in this province’s town of Semdinli that abuts both Iran and Iraq. Even today, the province the most troubled corner of Turkey.

What makes Hakkari so special, more than its geopolitics and historical background, is its topography. Some 88% of its area comprises mountains. Flat plains are but 2%. The remaining 10% consists of high plateaus. When you say mountains, we are speaking of those above 3,000 meters, some even 4,000 meters.

The nearest airport to Hakkari is 200 km away at Van. It takes about four hours of driving to get to Hakkari. The topography of Van and its environs are similar to that of Hakkari. Your first sensation that you are in the different land and even in a different planet overcomes you after about an hour and a half of driving from Van, once you drive through the Guzeldere Pass at 2,740-meter altitude.