Makhmour camp refugees banned from traveling to Erbil since murder of Turkish diplomat
Turkey’s Kurdish refugees in Makhmour camp, near Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, August 2019. Photo: Screenshot/NRT TV
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— More than a month has passed since the apparent assassination of a Turkish diplomat at HuQQabaz restaurant in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, but a strict ban remains in place that prevents people living in Rostam Judi camp in Makhmour from visiting the city.
Turkey’s Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) party representative Muzeyyen Gunes in Iraqi Kurdistan region told NRT TV that she has been closely monitoring conditions in the camp and the effects of the ban.
Gunes related a story about two pregnant women who wanted to visit the Erbil Maternity Teaching Hospital for pre-natal care, but were unable to do so because of the ban. As a result, they both lost the babies, Gunes said.
Moreover, many of the refugees working in Erbil have lost their jobs because they cannot get to the city, she said.
Member of the Makhmour Camp’s Foreign Affairs Committee Bewar Onvar confirmed to NRT that the “Asayish [security] does not allow patients, students, and other people to visit Erbil for necessary business.”
Makhmour camp was constructed by the United Nations in 1998 to provide shelter for over 12,500 Kurds, who fled the conflict between the Turkish government and the PKK in southeastern Turkey (Turkish Kurdistan).
The area is under the control of the ruling Barzani clan, which has close ties with Turkish government, and its Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP forces.
Iraqi Kurdistan’s KDP Counterterrorism Department has blamed the PKK for the murder of Turkish diplomat Osman Köse, who was gunned down in the Kurdistan capital along with two local residents on July 17, 2019.
The PKK has officially denied involvement in the murder.
The Counterterrorism Department and the Erbil Asayish have arrested several people, including a suspect that it characterized as the main perpetrator, but since then have released little information or evidence for beyond a video confession from several individuals.
The PKK has a presence in Makhmour and helped liberate the area after it was briefly occupied by Islamic State. The Turkish military routinely does flyovers of the area and occasionally conducts airstrikes, despite Makhmour’s location deep inside Erbil governorate.
However, it is thought that this connection is behind the ban, despite the fact that the camp is home to many people who have no involvement with the PKK.
Member of the Kurdistan Parliament’s Peshmerga, Interior, Security and Local Councils Committee Abubakir Haladny (Kurdistan Islamic Union) described the blockade as a violation of the camp residents’ human rights.
“The case of suspects and accused are different from those [living] in the camp. They should be treated humanely,” Haladni added.
The PKK took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population. More than 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels, have been killed in the conflict.
A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974 and currently serving a life sentence in Turkey, has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | nrttv.com
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