Playing i-spy on North Iraq’s closed border

Mid-East Uncategorized

Café Kardelen is the only Internet café in Silopi – pronounced "sloppy" – Turkey’s nearest town to the North Iraq border.

Both town and café are held under siege by international correspondents panning for stories in-between cups of sweet tea and filterless cigarettes as they await Harburgate – the border’s corridor to the war in the North – to re-open.

The once well-to-do trading town is now a difficult place to earn a crust due to UN trade sanctions on Iraq since 1991.