This is popular front a podcast focused on the niche details of modern warfare and

underreported conflict with me Jake Hanrahan. Today we're speaking to journalist

Frederick Heerink about how she spent a whole year living with the PKK, the Kurdish militant group, the guerrillas that are

fighting the Turkish government right now in Turkey and have been for the last 40 odd years.

Federique spent a whole year living with them to find out what goes on

at their candle mountain base on the mountain ranges of Northern Iraq.

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So,

So, Frederick, you basically were

so Frederick, you basically were living with the PKK for a year right

why why were you doing this maybe just explain to us what was this project all

about well it emerged when I was in the Condill Mountains where the

Pekk has its headquarters and most of the camps and that was two months after I was expelled from Turkey because of my work at British Hoe.

It was very beautiful in the mountains and I had good conversations and I thought you know it's so good to be here but I'm not a fighter what can I do and then I thought hey I'm a journalist that opens to opportunities.

So I thought maybe I can stay with the PKK for a year and then do the same thing that I've done when I was reporting in Kurdistan in Turkey which is

mostly talking to common people. I traveled a lot in cities and in villages and I didn't talk to

politicians a lot but to common people. I had to interview the leadership of

the PKK a few times already.

And I thought, what if I apply the same principle to the PKK and not talk to the

leadership anymore but to the common fighters and get to know their lives and their aspirations, their fears, their dreams.

...