Photography display in Smithers, B.C. showcases Kurdish soldiers

Photojournalist Mark West was 27 when he decided to travel to Turkey and Iraq to cover the story of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The man from Smithers, B.C. spent four months there in the early 90s in what he calls a calculated career move. 

"I was looking for a big story that would make my name ... There was increasing violence with the PKK. So what I wanted to do was to go down there and see that for myself and find out who these people were," says West.

The PKK is a militant organization working out of Iraq and Turkey that has been engaged in an armed struggle with the Turkish government for decades. The group says it fights for the self-determination and rights of the Kurdish people, an ethnic group spread throughout West Asia.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) deemed the PKK as a terrorist organization in 2005. The European Union also officially lists the group as such. 

So, how does a B.C. man get in touch with the PKK during such a tumultuous time?

West says he stumbled upon their contact information while working on another story. He found an address which led him to a man in London, England who was affiliated with the organization.

The photographer says an arrangement was made following a lengthy conversation. He says he was given a typewritten pass which he was to show to any PKK soldiers who stopped him while he was travelling to his lodgings in Erbil, Iraq.

"I remember distinctly as I was leaving, he said don't get caught with that bit of paper by the Turkish authorities because you'll be in a whole world of trouble."

West spent the next four months travelling in the training camps of the PKK. He says the image of the grizzly terrorist organization he expected to see couldn't have been further from what he actually found. West recollects the people who watched over him were friendly and welcoming.

West says he remembers every person and that each photo evokes a significant story for him.

He says the images featured in the show in Smithers are only half of the photos he actually took. Many of the photos were lost while smuggling the film out of Turkey to avoid authorities.

He didn't receive the remaining images until months after he had returned to London.

West says he is apprehensive when he watches news coverage of the current conflicts in Turkey and Iraq unfold.

"I look at those images and it takes me right back there … I'm looking for those faces. I'm looking to see if I recognize anybody."

West says he is eager to return to the region, and when he does he'll bring his camera.

With files from CBC's North by Northwest