The Executive Council Co-presidency of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) released a statement calling attention to the situation at the Maxmur Refugee Camp.

The statement by KCK Executive Council Co-presidency said the following:

“As a result of the Turkish state’s dirty war and burning down villages, our people from Botan, the heart of Kurdistan, moved to South Kurdistan (Bashur), where they have lived as refugees in Maxmur for more than 25 years. Our people in Maxmur is the only Kurdish refugee community with a population of some 15 thousand. The people of Maxmur, who have built a life with their own identity, language and culture, do not want to return to Turkey unless the Kurdish question is resolved. However, the Turkish state continues with its multifaceted attacks, including air raids, on the area in an attempt to disperse the Maxmur Camp.

The Maxmur Refugee Camp under UN supervision is located in an area between Mosul and Hewler, within the boundaries of South Kurdistan. The people of Maxmur were the first to counter ISIS when they attacked Hewler (Erbil). The Maxmur people were placed under a siege and isolation by the South Kurdistan federal government in the wake of an incident that had nothing to do with them. Sick people, students and workers cannot go out of the camp, nor can they meet their needs from outside Maxmur. The people of Maxmur conveyed their concerns over the current situation in the camp to our side, as they did to the federal government, to the political parties in South Kurdistan, to the Iraqi state, the United Nations and other concerned authorities. However, we have not felt the need to make a statement on the issue as we believed that the Kurdish administration would not subject the Maxmur people to a long standing deprivation, trusting that the embargo would be lifted after a while. We have called on the Kurdish government to lift the embargo through letters and various occasions. However, the continuation of the embargo and the isolation has led us to make this statement.

We have always believed that the Kurdish government would always provide assistance to the camp. In fact, there have been problems from time to time and the Kurdish government has been helpful in some cases. Yet, the Turkish state has persistently sought to ravage this camp by putting pressure on Iraq, the UN and the Kurdish government. The troubles caused and the embargos imposed by the Kurdish government do only encourage this policy of the Turkish state. As a matter of fact, reports have been increasingly received of Turkish aerial reconnaissance over Maxmur recently, causing people to be concerned about imminent air raids on the area. The Maxmur people are a distinctive part of all the Kurds, who experienced severe atrocities and had their villages burned to the ground. All the Kurds have the sensitivity to help this community; the Kurdish populations from South (Bashur), North (Bakur), West (Rojava) and East (Rojhilat) Kurdistan. All the Kurds expect the siege and embargo on Maxmur to be ended immediately.

At a time when our people want the achievement of Kurdish national unity more than ever and when discussions to this end are taking place in all parts (of Kurdistan), the Kurdish government’s removal of the siege on Maxmur will please all our people. We reiterate our call for the removal of the embargo on the Maxmur Camp in order for its people not to be victimized and hurt anymore. We believe that the Kurdish government will meet the expectations.”

RELATED NEWS: