by Sam Dagher
MOSUL-DOHUK ROAD, Iraq, Aug 8 (AFP) - Turkish trucker Mehmet Ali rumbles with his fuel tank trailer into a parking area off this main road in northern Iraq as fellow Iraqi drivers prepare to take over his load.
The kidnapping and killing of Turkish truck drivers in Iraq is forcing some to quit the violence-ravaged country as one company said it would do Saturday to spare the life of a driver snatched on the road between Baghdad and Mosul.
Others are limiting their risks or coming up with ingenious ways to outwit rebels, abductors and bandits.
Everything about Ali`s trailer is Turkish except for the words "Fuel for the Iraqi people, God is greatest" sprayed in big black Arabic letters on the fuel tank.
He stops his trailer, separates the tank from the rest of the vehicle and unscrews the Turkish registration plate from the back before handing over the load to an Iraqi driver who will make the treacherous journey further south.
"You see, the chest is Iraqi and the behind is Turkish," jokes Hazem al-Juhaish, 42, an Iraqi with a deep scar over his left eye. "We take all the risks now."
Ali, 40, a native of the southeastern Turkish city of Mardin, works for a private Turkish company that delivers liquefied petroleum gas to Iraqi power plants in Beiji further south and Taji on the outskirts of Baghdad, but he will only come this far into Iraqi territory, about 120 kilometers (70 miles) from the border.
Other drivers say even this short stretch of road from the border is now filled with dangers including frequent attacks by bandits.
"Every time I cross back into Turkey from Iraq, I call my family on the mobile to tell them that I am alive," says Jalal Hasan, 45, a father of four from the southeastern city of Gaziantep.
The drivers could double the 700 dollars they are paid now if they went all the way to Taji and triple it if they transported fuel, water or other materials for the US military.
"It is not worth it, life is too precious," says a smiling Ali.
His friend Hasan Sheikh-Musa, 32, also from Mardin, agrees saying he used to deliver for the military but quit two months ago.
He recounts how a convoy of trailers he was in, escorted by US armoured vehicles, was attacked near Beiji in May.
"They shot at us and even children started hurling stones at us. Except for shouting at us, the Americans did very little to defend us," he said.
Sheikh-Hasan says most kidnappings occur in the chaos that follows such incidents or when drivers are forced to spend the night in the open if their vehicles break down.
Men gather around him and start telling the story of fellow driver Mehmet Dayar who was kidnapped on July 17 and later released two weeks later.
Dayar was in a convoy of eight trucks transporting fuel for the US military when they were attacked south of Mosul by masked gunmen. One Turkish driver was killed and another injured.
Iraq`s National Guard forces now routinely escort Turkish fuel trailers from the border to a distribution center in Mosul or to the city`s southern gate, but after that they are on their own, unless they are transporting for the US military.
Although Iraqi police have set up checkpoints every 50 kilometers (30 miles) between Mosul and Baghdad and run frequent patrols, they complain they are underpaid and ill-equipped for the job.
"Most people here get just 100 dollars a month," said Lieutenant Kahtan Saleh at the Martyr Hikmat checkpoint south of Mosul.
US military gunners atop armoured vehicles and trucks can be seen escorting long convoys of Turkish fuel trailers along the road between Mosul and the refinery town of Beiji.
Although the International Transporters` Association, which groups most of Turkey`s 900 land transport companies, urged its members to immediately stop carrying cargo for the US military, many are still motivated by the lucrative pay.
"Many have bought their trailers with loans and doing a few jobs for the Americans is an easy way to repay the debt," says Sheikh-Hasan
A militant group said Saturday it was holding a Turkish driver who had been delivering supplies to the US military and demanded that his company suspend its operations in Iraq.
This came one day after Turkey said it was trying to save three of its nationals believed to be held hostage in Iraq and to locate two others who have been missing.
Two Turkish truck drivers were set free Wednesday, while video footage released on the Internet last Monday showed militants shooting of a Turkish hostage that was identified as Murat Yuce, working for a private company that provides services to the US military.