KAPIKOY, Turkey — Many Iranians crossing into Turkey say the trauma that still haunts them is not the war but the regime’s bloody crackdown on last month’s protests. Nearly two weeks of airstrikes have battered Iran, killing more than 1,200 civilians and hitting cities across the country — yet for many fleeing the violence, the memory of the protests’ brutal suppression remains more traumatizing. 

“Two powerful countries have been attacking us for nearly two weeks and killed fewer people than the mullahs did in two days,” a 47-year-old Iranian man from Tehran told Al-Monitor at the Kapikoy border crossing between Turkey and Iran.

He said he was traveling to a Western country to stay with relatives “for a while” after a strike damaged his small manufacturing facility in Tehran, forcing him to temporarily shut down his business. Like other regime critics, he requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The protests that began Dec. 28 grew into one of the largest waves of unrest since the Islamic Republic was founded in 1979. Security forces responded with a brutal crackdown between Jan. 8 and Jan. 9 that the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said killed at least 5,000 protesters. The group said another 17,000 deaths remain under investigation. UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Mai Sato said last month that the death toll could be as high as 20,000.

Many Iranians echoed similar sentiments as they crossed into Turkey earlier this week through the Kapikoy border gate, one of three crossings in Turkey’s Van province connecting the country to northwestern Iran. Among those who spoke to Al-Monitor was an Iranian university student, 21, who said she had come to Turkey seeking a brief respite from the war. “Khamenei was a murderer,” the university student from northern Iran said, referring to the slain Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “He killed a lot of my friends. We are glad that he is dead. They must kill [Mojtaba Khamenei] too,” she added, referring to the former leader’s newly appointed successor, his 56-year-old son.

The woman said she would return to Iran after celebrating Nowruz, the Persian and Kurdish New Year, which is being celebrated on March 20 in Iran and March 21 in Turkey. 

Turkish officials, the United Nations refugee agency and other international organizations are monitoring the number of people at the crossing. A foreign humanitarian worker at the crossing, who spoke on background because he was not authorized to speak to the press, described the situation as “stable,” with a few hundred people crossing each day since the war began — a level that has not raised concerns in Turkey about a potential influx of refugees.

Under Turkish visa rules, Iranian citizens can travel to Turkey........

© Al Monitor