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Kurdistan's Barzani calls on Syrian Kurds
to stay and fight
19.8.2013 |
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Following the mass arrival
of Kurdish refugees from Syria, the Iraqi Kurdistan
Region president calls on Kurdish Syrians to "stay
and defend their land"
August 19, 2013
ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',— The
Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has faced huge
problems in accommodating the thousands of Syrian
Kurdish refugees who have arrived in the area since
Saturday. Many had to be sent to mosques and schools
as a temporary measure until suitable accommodation
could be found.
The UN refugee agency announced on Monday that more
than 30,000 people have
crossed from Syrian Kurdistan
(Western Kurdistan) into Iraqi Kurdistan since last
Thursday, August 15.
The president of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq
(Southern Kurdistan), Massoud Barzani, has called on
Kurds in “Western Kurdistan”—the Kurdish areas in
Syria—to stay and defend their land.
Barzani sent a message to Syrian Kurds saying: “You
all know that since the start of the Syrian
revolution, tens of thousands of our brothers from
Western Kurdistan have moved into our region, and we
have accommodated them in refugee camps. However,
regrettably, the international community did not
offer
these refugees any help. Recently, large numbers
of refugees flooded our region again, and I would
like to offer my thanks and appreciation to the
Kurdistan Regional Government for the help it
offered them by providing them with transport and
temporary accommodation.”
“Having said all that, the issue remains very
sensitive, because we do not want Western Kurdistan
to be emptied of its Kurdish residents, and our
people there must stay and defend their land [and]
try to attain their legitimate rights,” he added.
Meanwhile, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan has called on the Kurdish Democratic Union
Party,www.ekurd.net
which controls the Kurdish areas in Syria, to join
the Syrian National Coalition in confronting the
danger from armed groups in Kurdish areas.
In another development in Syria, a UN inspection
team arrived in the country on Sunday to investigate
the alleged use of chemical weapons in the war
between opposition and government forces.
The team, which is led by Swedish scientist Ake
Sellstrom, arrived by road from Beirut and will stay
for 14 days. The inspection team’s stay can be
extended by mutual agreement.
The team will investigate claims by the opposition
that government forces have used chemical weapons in
Aleppo, Homs and Damascus.
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Asharq Al-Awsat | aawsat.net
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