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Aid agencies prepare for displacement near
Turkey-Iraqi Kurdistan border 22.10.2007 |
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October
22, 2007
ZAKHO, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', -- Aid
agencies working in Iraq’s Kurdistan provinces have
put in place emergency supply programmes in
anticipation of a threatened invasion by Turkish
troops to clear Turkish-Kurdish PKK rebels operating
in the area.
“We are storing supplies to the maximum and we urge
international NGOs to send us food parcels and
medicines to tackle a possible huge displacement in
the coming days,” said Rastgo Muhammad Barsaz, a
spokesman for the NGO, Kurdistan Campaign to Help
Victims of War. “Some Kurdish families have already
left villages and towns near the Kurdish border with
Turkey and have been displaced for the past week.
“Following our emergency plan, medicines are being
sent to local hospitals to keep them sufficiently
supplied to offer medical assistance to possible
injured people, including mobile units that will be
ready to travel to areas where there is no medical
support nearby,” Barsaz added.
At least 12 Turkish soldiers were killed and 17
wounded on 21 October in an ambush by the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK), near the Iraq border,
according to the Turkish government. The ambush has
increased tension generated by a decision by
Turkey's parliament on 17 October to authorise
cross-border incursions into Iraqi Kurdistan region
to hunt rebels in the area.
The 17 October attack took place in southeastern
Hakkari, a province near the town of Yuksekova.
PKK background
The PKK, formed in 1970s has been fighting since
1984 for the creation of an independent Kurdistan
state in the mainly Kurdish south-eastern of Turkey.
Since the 1990s, however, it has called for more
autonomy for the Kurds in Turkey instead of an
independent Kurdistan.
According to Adar Mustafa, spokesman for Kurdish Aid
Solidarity, a local NGO, most families living near
the Iraqi Kurdistan border do not support the
Turkey's Kurdish PKK militias and are scared of
being attacked as their homes are in strategic
military areas.
Displaced as winter approaches
“Those are the first families fleeing northern areas
and every day we receive reports of more people
travelling to cities like Sulaimaniyah, Erbil and
Kirkuk, joining thousands of already displaced
individuals in those cities,” Mustafa added. “The
latest information we received this morning [21
October] says that more than 1,800 individuals
living near the border have already left their homes
carrying just a few foodstuffs and some clothes.
”Winter is coming in a couple of weeks and if there
is a rebellion in the northern areas where the
weather will be much colder, this can seriously
affect the heath of thousands of displaced
families,” he said.
Mustafa said his organisation had followed the
agreement reached with other local NGOs and stored
tonnes of food parcels to be sent to northern areas.
“With the killing of soldiers at the border by PKK
militants, the invasion by Turkish forces of
northern Iraq is believed to be much closer than
expected and we have to be prepared.”
Kalif Dirar, a senior official in the Kurdistan
regional government, said it had registered at least
2,500 people arriving in the northern provinces
since 17 October and warned that if clashes
intensify, more than 6,000 people were expected to
arrive this week.
“Villagers in northern Iraq have been seriously
affected in the past months. In July displacement in
the area was reported and hundreds of families fled
to secure areas in lower Iraq,” Dirar added. “Many
went back but others preferred to leave their homes,
expecting later clashes, as is happening now … to
save their lives from a bullet.
100,000 existing displaced
“Of the families that fled their homes in villages
near the border, at least 25 percent were children
and are without education and proper medical
treatment,” he noted. “They are going to be part of
an already existing 100,000 displaced people, about
17,000 families, including Kurdish and Arab, in
Kurdistan.”
Of the families that fled their homes in villages
near the border, at least 25 percent were children
and are without education and proper medical
treatment.
On 19 October, the local Iraq Red Crescent office
urged its headquarters in Baghdad to send enough
supplies to be stored in preparation for the
threatened offensive.
New arrivals from villages near the Iraq-Turkey
border said the situation was tense and more
families were leaving their homes, scared of
possible attacks.
“I didn’t think twice and took my family with me to
Erbil to save our lives. Many of my neighbours were
packing to leave the village when I left and soon
they are going to join the thousands of displaced
families in Iraq,” said Cekdar Darav, from Kani Masi,
about 40km northeast of the town of Duhok, who is
taking refuge in Erbil.
irinnews org
Iraqi Kurdish politician says, Turkey is using a
Kurdish separatist PKK rebel group as an excuse to
invade Kurdistan region 'Iraq' to prevent the
establishment of Kurdistan state in the Kurdish
autonomous region in 'northern Iraq'.
Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in
part of the country. Today's teenagers are the first
generation to grow up under Kurdish rule. In the new
Iraqi Constitution, it is referred to as Kurdistan
region. Kurdistan region has all the trappings of an
independent state -- its own constitution, its own
parliament, its own flag, its own army, its own
border, its own border patrol, its own national
anthem, its own education system, its own
International airports, even its own stamp inked
into the passports of visitors.
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