Erbil (Iraq) (AFP)

Overlooking the summer residences of wealthy families from Iraqi Kurdistan, thousands of olive trees stand.

This landscape did not exist a few years ago: it was a Kurd from Syria who brought them back, making the olive oil business flourish in the region.

Long before the Turkish army and its Syrian auxiliaries took his city of Afrin, one of the Kurdish strongholds of Syria, Sulayman Cheikho had taken off.

Since 2007, by making them pass legally or thanks to the smuggling routes between Iraqi Kurdistan and the Kurdish areas of northeastern Syria, he has replanted his olive trees which he speaks of as his children on the other side of the border.

"I brought back 42,000 olive trees from Afrine, when they were about three years old," proudly explains to AFP the man who has long been the president of the Association of olive growers in Afrine.

At the beginning of 2018, its task was complicated: the Turks launched the operation "Olive branch", a name that still resonates painfully in Afrine, whose black berries made the reputation.

Ankara fears the emergence in Syria of an autonomous region held by Kurdish militias close to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is leading a guerrilla war on Turkish soil.

The Kurdish militia of the People's Protection Units (YPG), considered "terrorist" by Turkey, quickly lost Afrin and since then the exodus has intensified.

Half of the 320,000 inhabitants, many of whom made their living from olive oil production thanks to the favorable climate of the surroundings, fled their homes during the offensive, according to the UN.

- A booming sector -

"Today, I am aiming for 80,000 trees," continues Mr. Cheikho behind the wheel of his pick-up.

In Afrine, 4,000 of its olive trees were more than a hundred years old.

Maintaining so many trees is a challenge in Iraqi Kurdistan, he admits, a region much more arid than Afrin, where it must redouble its efforts to ensure irrigation.

A little further, the fiftieth - who embodies the fourth generation of olive growers in his family - presents his press.

There, about twenty employees know their craftsmanship inside out.

They too came from Afrin, but later to flee the war.

"It's a good year, we produced 23 liters of oil for 100 kilos of olives harvested," says the boss.

If Mr. Cheikho sells his bottles in Kurdistan but also elsewhere in Iraq, he has mainly worked to make a sector flourish so far underdeveloped.

The Iraqi climate makes it easier to import - from Lebanon, Syria or Turkey - than the production of olive oil, an elixir present on all tables in the country but also in soap and other derivatives.

- Revive Afrine -

After bringing in tens of thousands of olive trees from Afrin, he helped seven Iraqi Kurdish investors establish their wine press and olive grove.

All of them hired Kurds from Afrin.

Bringing olive oil to life, for Mr. Cheikho and his companions, is a bit like bringing life to their martyred city, whose resources have been plundered.

In 2008, when Mr. Cheikho had just arrived, the autonomous Kurdistan of Iraq had 169,400 olive trees.

Today, according to the Kurdish authorities, there are four million thanks to the funds invested - nearly 20 million euros - for planting and importing.

Some 25 tonnes of olive oil were produced in 2019, as well as many derived products such as soap and cosmetics.

"The farmers here have big plans and are extremely ambitious (...) by working hard and, thanks to the experience of the olive growers in Afrine, they will create a bright future for olive oil," predicts M Cheikho.

© 2020 AFP