ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Residents of a camp in northern Iraq housing Kurdish refugees from Turkey say difficult conditions in the camp have not eased despite peace talks between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“Iraqi forces don't even allow workers and patients to go to Iraqi provinces,” a camp resident told Rudaw, requesting anonymity due to safety concerns.
Makhmour camp, located southwest of Erbil and administered by Nineveh province, is home to approximately 10,000 Kurdish refugees from southeastern Turkey. Most were displaced during Turkey’s decades of conflict with the PKK.
According to camp authorities, residents are currently barred from working, accessing hospitals, or enrolling in universities. Many have been unable to renew expired refugee documents, preventing them from passing through checkpoints. This restriction on their movements has led to a shortage of basic essentials in the camp, including medical supplies.
In a message earlier in August, PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan said that progress in the peace talks would allow Makhmour camp residents to return home. Despite this hopeful news, residents say pressure on the camp has increased.
“After the message of leader Apo [Ocalan], we want the situation to calm down,” said another resident. Camp officials, however, told them “a special war is being waged” to give them false hope, they added.
A camp official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the policy for residents has not changed: “The situation is unchanged. Evacuation is not on the agenda, and we don't want to say anything.”
The Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement has denied there are any restrictions on the movements of camp residents. “They are officially registered with the Iraqi state and have no problems and are free to move to all provinces,” ministry spokesperson Ali Abbas told Rudaw last month.
The camp has been caught in regional tensions for years. Turkey considers it a PKK stronghold, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has labeled it an “incubation center for terrorism.” The camp has been the target of Turkish airstrikes and drone attacks.
The PKK, which has fought Turkey for decades, deployed fighters to protect the camp from Islamic State (ISIS) attacks in 2014 but said they withdrew in October 2023.
On July 11, the PKK held a ceremonial disarmament in the Kurdistan Region. Thirty members and commanders burned their weapons, acting on Ocalan’s call to abandon their armed struggle for a political solution to secure Kurdish rights in Turkey. A Turkish parliamentary commission has been formed to establish a legal framework for the peace process.
Iraq banned the PKK last year under pressure from Ankara.
Soran Hussein contributed to this article.