Trapped on the front line, the Christians who fled Baghdad for safety
Deborah Haynes in Zakho, northern Iraq
October 25, 2007

Persecuted under Saddam Hussein for being Kurdish, then chased from Baghdad because they are Christian, families in a village on Iraq’s border with Turkey find themselves on a new front incursion.

The tiny Christian enclave of Dash Ta Takhe in the Khameer mountains has been shaken by Turkish shelling in recent weeks, forcing two thirds of its 150 population to flee to safer areas.

Some locals, however, mainly the men, are staying put, either because they refuse to evacuate or because they cannot afford to go anywhere else. “Even if we all die we will not leave the village,” Gurial Warda, the mayor, whose wife and children have fled to Zakho, the nearest large town, said. the rest