Ulupamir
Following the footprints of the legendary kyrgyzs nomads that escape from the war in Afghanistan and resettled in Turkey.
The Ulupamir (Great Pamir in Kyrgyz) Project is a selection of XXX portraits of Kyrgyz refugees living near to Lake Van, in Turkey since the 70’s. We heard of a large group of nomads who use to farm yaks in Wakhan region of Afghanistan and had to fled to Pakistan before around 1100 of them finally were accepted by Turkey to settle in Ulupamir, their resettlement village in Van Province. There their population rose to roughly 5000.
We were looking to see how they struggle to keep their folklore, culture and traditions while the young generation is rapidly assimilating the turkish way of life. We wanted to hear how they became the target of PKK fighters as some of the young men joined turkish militias fighting against the Kurdish movement. In Ulupamir there are no yaks anymore but still most of the pureness, custums and they brought from Afghanistan.
The portraits
