Kolbar

A kolbar (Persian: کول‌بر) or kolber (Kurdish: کۆڵبەر) are Kurdish border porters who carry goods across borders on foot or on horseback, legally or illegally, often outside official crossing points. Kolbars mainly transport goods from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran's West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah provinces, but they also carry goods across the borders of Syria and Turkey. Most kolbars live in Iranian Kurdistan, where the Kurdish provinces are among the poorest in the country. Kolbars also live in Turkish Kurdistan and to a lesser extent Iraqi Kurdistan. Since kolbar work is mostly considered illegal, kolbar workers have no insurance, retirement plans and unions. Estimates of the number of kolbars range from 80,000 to 300,000. The phenomenon of kolbari is tied to the internal colonialization of the Kurdish region in Iran.