Poverty Forces Turks to Drive in Iraq

[Barrett808]

Poverty Forces Turks to Drive in Iraq
By LOUIS MEIXLER, Associated Press Writer

HABUR BORDER GATE, Turkey - The line of trucks at the Turkish border crossing into Iraq stretches for five miles, a sign that despite kidnappings and beheadings, thousands of Turks are still willing to risk their lives to haul cargo to Iraq.

Selahattin Turan is one of them, though he has his fears.

The last time he drove a load of drinking water to a U.S. military base in Iraq, Iraqi gunmen shot out one of his tires, dragged him from his cab, kicked him unconscious and tossed him into a drainage ditch.

But with a family of eight to feed and few other jobs in the impoverished Turkish southeast, Turan says he's likely to go back to Iraq next month.

"To survive I have to go," said Turan, who has been driving to Iraq for the past 17 years. "I can't do anything else ... and feed my children."

In other parts of the world, the story is similar.

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