ANTI-WAR protesters have told of being kidnapped at gunpoint by security services in Iraqi Kurdistan at the behest of Turkey and the region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Giving an exclusive interview to the Morning Star just an hour after his release, 35-year-old teacher Aso Hiwa said that he and his fellow protesters refused to back down despite their three-day ordeal. “The Asayish [security service officers] caught us on the way to the demonstration. We were walking in pairs carrying flags and leaflets,” Mr Hiwa said. “But they surrounded us and held us at gunpoint. This wasn’t anything else but a kidnapping. We were held as political prisoners.”