Quantcast
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 112

In Turkey’s Rebel Country, Women Lead the Charge — in Soccer

Tahir Temel shuffles across the artificial turf, yelling at a defender and dodging errant free kicks, and points toward a snow-covered mountain soaring over the field, some 8 km east of Hakkari. Last summer, from where he stood in the middle of the town’s soccer field, one could see militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), ensconced in the mountaintops, and Turkish soldiers, stationed on lower ground, exchanging fire. “It made for quite a show,” Temel says, humorlessly. Wedged between Iran to the east and Iraq to the south, Hakkari, (pop. 70,000) has witnessed some of the worst fighting in an ongoing 30-year war between the PKK — listed by the U.S. as a terrorist group — and the Turkish army. Though armed clashes inside the city itself are rare, the sight of Kurdish kids pelting military vehicles with stones or Molotov cocktails is not. Army checkpoints abound. When Hakkari makes headlines — which is seldom — it is usually because blood has been shed. (MORE: Turkey’s Triumphs) A small group of people may soon change that: the local women’s soccer team, coached by Temel. In 2008, its debut season, Hakkari Gucu, or Hakkari Power, which plays in one of Turkey’s eight regional second divisions, won six games and lost two. Since then, it has only grown stronger, making the playoffs year in, year out and steamrolling the competition. Last season, Power became the only soccer team in all of Turkey, first or second division, male or female, to concede no goals. The women scored 72, won six games and lost none. Several team members have been called up to play on Turkey’s national youth team. A similar record would be considered impressive for most sports teams. For a squad that hails from one of Turkey’s poorest, most conservative and most violent provinces, it is no less than extraordinary. The PKK’s war against the Turkish army has reaped a grim toll on Hakkari’s economy. Unemployment, the legacy of a counterinsurgency campaign that flooded the town with tens of thousands of fleeingImage may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 112

Trending Articles