HABER MERKEZİ-Mahmur Camp People's Assembly Co-Chair Ali Ürek, who said that the embargo that has been going on for 2 and a half years is the result of the KDP and AKP alliance, said that the plan to evacuate the camp was foiled by the resistance of the people.

The Mahmur Camp of the Federated Kurdistan Region has been under an embargo for about 2 and a half years. Mahmur Camp, where 12 thousand people, most of whom migrated from Şırnak and Hakkari, lived against Turkey's policies of village evacuation and the imposition of village guards between 1993-1995, was taken under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) in 1998. After the armed attack on 3 people working at the Turkish Consulate in Hewlêr on 17 July 2019, the camp was embargoed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and all relations with other provinces have been blocked for 843 days. While there are many problems such as health, education, security and economics in the camp, the occasional bombardments, especially by Turkey's Armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (SİHA), make the people nervous.

TURKISH ALLIANCE WITH KDP

Drawing attention to the embargo imposed on the Mahmur Camp, Ali Ürek, co-chairman of the People's Assembly of the Mahmur Camp, said that the embargo was not independent of the special war policies carried out in the other 4 parts of the Kurdish people. Noting that there has been an embargo by the KDP and the Barzani family in particular since the first day they became refugees in the Federated Kurdistan Region, Ürek said, "As a result of the attacks against the Kurds who wanted freedom, Mahmur was targeted and an attack is being carried out against him." Stating that the KDP has been trying to disperse the Mahmur Camp and other camps since the first day, Ürek said that the murder of Osman Köse, a MIT affiliate, was the reason for this situation.

Urek underlined that the KDP took steps in line with the alliance it formed with Turkey and aimed to evacuate the Mahmur Camp, and said that the people living in the camp thwarted this plan with their resistance.

RESULTS OF THE EMBARGO

Reminding that with the embargo on the Mahmur Camp, Turkey also has occasional air strikes against the camp, Ürek said that the people living in the camp are psychologically affected by this situation and that there are life-threatening dangers. Emphasizing that the embargo on one hand and the air attacks on the other adversely affected the people living in the camp, Ürek said, “We are experiencing health problems, especially. Simply put, when pregnant women left the camp to go to the hospital in the early days of the embargo, the KDP was stopped at checkpoints. They caused the death of their children. Many of our sick people died because they could not go to the hospital. We have chronic patients, they cannot be cured. Workers who went to other places to work could not work, as entry and exit from the camp were not allowed. We are also struggling economically. We did not allow these dirty policies to achieve their goals, even though we paid huge prices.”

Reminding that the Mahmur Camp is under the auspices of the UN, Ürek said, “UN representatives stayed with us for years. But when the ISIS attacks took place, their commute decreased for their own safety and because of the dirty tricks of Turkey and the KDP. The UN is not unaware of the injustices and attacks experienced here. The UN's silence against the persecution and tyranny shows that we are a partner. The silence of the UN and the Iraqi government is complicity in this persecution. As a result of Turkey's pressure, the UN ignores what has been done.”

OUR FIGHT WILL CONTINUE

 Expressing that he appealed to everyone with a conscience, Ürek continued his words as follows: “There is no need to call out to them because the government in the Federated Kurdistan Region is in the hands of the KDP. Because they are the ones who did it. But we appeal to the people of Bashur, do not remain silent against this dirty alliance of the KDP and Turkey. With this alliance, Kurdish citizens from the South are experiencing 10 times the hardships of the people living in the Mahmur Camp. With these games, Mahmur Camp will not be evacuated, but with this alliance, Bashur will be evacuated. Neither the KDP and Turkey are tired of their dirty games, nor have we, the people living in the camps, given up on our resistance and struggle. Our struggle against the invaders will continue until we are victorious.”