46,000 people forced to flee from Kobanê and surrounding villages after attacks by ISIS gangs are continuing to live in the district of Suruç with the support of local people. With the onset of winter there is now an urgent need for electric fires, winter clothes and food for babies and pregnant women.

Following ISIS gang attacks on Kobanê and the 350 surrounding villages and hamlets 46 thousand of the 192 thousand people displaced are waging a struggle for life in in Suruç town with the solidarity of local people. Despite the government claiming it “embraced the people of Kobanê” only around 6,000 people are staying in the state run AFAD tent city. HDP Urfa MP İbrahim Ayhan, Rojava Assistance and Solidarity Association Data Processing Spokesperson Işıl Su Erdoğan and Kobanê Crisis Coordination Health Commission member Dr. Ethem Şahin assessed the latest situation.

‘There is a need for volunteers’

Data Processing Coordination Spokesperson Işıl Su Erdoğan said there was an urgent need in tent cities for food for pregnant women and babies. Erdoğan said: “First and foremost we need volunteer activists to work in the tent cities for people from Kobanê. We have volunteers who have been here a long time, and they are unable to leave as there is no one to replace them. We particularly need activists who understand  electrical systems in tent cities. Several of the tent cities have no electricity. We also need blankets, mattresses and pillows. There are also no fire extinguishers in the camps, so that is another urgent necessity. New born babies are sleeping on the floor as we have no cots or cradles. We have a need for baby food and for heaters for our new tent city which has a capacity of 4,000.”

‘Winter conditions exacerbate the situation’

Dr. Ethem Şahin said that there were three main problems in the tent cities. He listed them as follows: nourishment, shelter and health treatment. “As winter sets in we have a problem of heating as there is a shortage of power. Due to a lack of drinking water and toilets we have had cases of dysentery. Although we have tried to register everyone, there are refugee children in outlying villages who have not been vaccinated”, he added, saying it was important that these shortcomings be addressed urgently.

‘A hospital needs to be built’

Dr. Şahin said people from Kobanê were suffering health problems on account of the state’s discriminatory policies, adding that a new hospital needed to be built urgently as the existing one had been designed with the needs of 20,000 people in mind, while there were now 200,000 people in the town. He added that refugees from Kobanê had to pay 20% of the price of a prescription.

‘Mobilisation must continue’

HDP Urfa MP İbrahim Ayhan said that the needs of 90% of the 180,000 people who came from Kobanê are being met by the aid coordination, calling on the people to mobilise to meet needs for shelter and food. Ayhan added that the coordination received aid from municipalities and NGOs, but that more needed to be done. “The state has not helped the refugees. They have rejected our requests for assistance. Apart from the 6,000 people in the AFAD tent city, the needs of the displaced people of Kobanê are met by our coordination. We therefore call on all our people to assist us in meeting the needs of all these people,” he added.

‘People from Kobanê being discriminated against’

Ayhan said that the government’s claim that the people from Kobanê were ‘their guests’ did not reflect the truth, claiming the government discriminated against them. He added: “The tolerance shown to previous influxes of refugees from Syria has not been shown to the people from Kobanê. There is blatant discrimination and double standards, which is unacceptable. These people have come here because of the war, and the government, instead of helping them, is putting obstacles in the way of aid being sent here. They did what they could for the fall of Kobanê  and for it to be emptied, and they still haven’t severed their links with ISIS. They are continuing to support and assist it.”