The recently established Dedêran camp in Siirt is now hosting over 1000 Yezidis from Sinjar. The co-mayor of Siirt Tuncer Bakırhan said people’s support has to continue in order to meet the needs of the “guests” from Sinjar, as he prefers to call them.

Having been forced to flee from the savage attacks and the massacres of ISIS which started on 3 August, some 300 people from Sinjar who arrived at Siirt, after reaching North Kurdistan via Zakho, have been housed in the Dedêran camp established by the Siirt municipality.

The Dedêran camp located in the Baris neighbourhood sets an example to other camps as it appears to be pretty clean and ordered. While the roads are paved, the houses are suitable for winter and have a bathroom, kitchen and a living room. Most importantly, potable water reaches each house.

All the work in the Dedêran camp is coordinated by the crisis desk formed jointly by the municipalities of the Party of Democratic Regions (DBP).

Speaking to ANF about the camp, the co-mayor of Siirt said: “So far two groups from Sinjar reached our camp. The first group consisted of 850 persons, but the number increased to 1,300 with some other people sent from the neighbouring cities to Siirt. The camp’s capacity is for 1,300 persons and it is full at the moment”.

Bakırhan said the camp previously hosted the Dedêran nomads and was built by the Siirt municipality as a fully equipped settlement unit.

Bakırhan said the camp has no problems such as water, roads, etc, adding that the state organisations had not contributed to the camp.

Bakırhan said all the needs of the camp are met by the people of Siirt but added that there is still some equipment lacking like refrigerators and cookers in addition to an ongoing need for food.

Calling the refugees from Sinjar “our guests”, the co-mayor said the municipality provides hot meals, however it would be better for them to take over some activities to meet their daily needs in order to normalise the daily life, and cooking could contribute to this normalisation.

Recalling that it is the municipalities of the DBP that mobilised to help the refugees, seeing it as a duty, Bakırhan stressed the importance of the support of the people and the continuation of this solidarity.

Bakırhan further stressed that in this extraordinary process it is quite important that the Kurdish people living in Europe contribute by not only sending aid, but also by undertaking some diplomatic work which is vital in drawing the attention of the international community to the tragedy of the people of Sinjar.