SIRNAK, Turkey — Perched atop a boulder in the desolate landscape of Sirnak province, his assault rifle slung on his back, Ahmet pointed at a stretch of the deserted road that runs through these parts down to the Turkish border with Iraq and Syria.
“It was over there that my uncle was killed in a PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] ambush on a civilian minibus in 1992,” he said. “That’s when I picked up his gun and took his place with the village guards.”
