Twelve thousand people, who migrated from Şırnak and Hakkari in the 1990s because villages were burned to the ground by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), and started to live in the Makhmur Camp they established next to the Makhmur district, which is 100 kilometers away from the Mosul province of Iraq, have been kept under siege for the last 3 years. Makhmur Camp, which was besieged on July 17, 2019, when Osman Köse, a diplomat at the Turkish Consulate General in Hewler, the capital of the Federated Kurdistan Region, lost his life as a result of an armed attack, has been the target of continuous air attacks by Turkey. Despite being under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), the international silence against the said blockade and attacks continues. 

Ishtar Council Coordination member Çiçek Cengiz evaluated the 3-year embargo imposed on Maxmur camp and Turkey's attacks in the region.

Ishtar Council Coordination member Çiçek Cengiz spoke to MA about the 3-year embargo imposed on Maxmur camp and said: "Turkey is aiming to depopulate the camp by continuing its attacks together with the KDP. There are roadblocks established by the Asayish forces along the way to Hewler and they are arresting the citizens who travel on this road for work. In fact, this embargo, repression and attacks are directly related to the isolation imposed on Mr. Abdullah Öcalan. As the isolation deepens, so do the attacks."

Cengiz said that the people in the camp managed to make the embargo ineffective, and added: “The closure of the roads affected us negatively in terms of economy, health and life. However, the public began to produce alternative ways to get around the embargo and make it fail in its purposes. The committees established by the people meet the health and economic needs of the camp. Although this is not enough, the people are trying to frustrate the embargo in this way."

Stating that the main purpose of the embargo and the attacks against the camp is to destroy the administrative system in Maxmur, Cengiz said: “Global powers want to destroy the Democratic Nation and Democratic Confederalism system built by Mr. Öcalan and try to do that with all kinds of conspiracies. The people living in the camp have interiorised the model. But the ruling powers of the world are attacking to overthrow and defeat this system. However, the people living in the camp managed to spoil the plans. They insist on defending the ideas of Mr. Öcalan. People have not taken a single step back."

Reminding that the camp is under the auspices of the UN, Cengiz said: “The UN is not fulfilling its duties and responsibilities. It could not even make a statement against the attack and the embargo. The UN was under the influence of the powers that applied the embargo. If the UN had fulfilled its role and mission, there would be no embargo imposed on the camp. Our citizens suffering from chronic diseases have serious difficulties because some of their medicines are not available in the camp. There has been a UN-affiliated hospital in the camp since 2000. However, it still has many shortcomings. So far, many pregnant women have lost their children because they were kept waiting at checkpoints by the KDP.”

RESISTANCE AND STRUGGLE 

Stating that the ongoing embargo in the camp affects women and children the most, Cengiz said: “Children and women are targeted by the air strikes carried out by Turkey in the camp. The people of Maxmur will counter these attacks with their resistance. The Iraqi government is not fulfilling its duties. The camp is affiliated with the Iraqi government. Camp residents are constantly demonstrating to make their voices heard by the authorities. This resistance and struggle of the people of the camp will frustrate all oppression and attacks.”