Mahmur camp’s future unclear
The 12,000 Turkish citizens who live in the U.N.-supervised Mahmur camps in northern Iraq will only return back to Turkey if the Kurdish problem is resolved, one local official said.
The refugees crossed over to Iraq in 1994 from the southeastern provinces of Şırnak and Hakkari during the heaviest clashes between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and the military.
Turkey’s efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue had local repercussions, said one local official who wanted to remain anonymous, adding that the only viable way for the refugees to return to their homes was the resolution of the Kurdish problem.
Refugees moved between several camps before settling in the Mahmur region of northern Iraq near Mosul. The Saddam Hussein government controlled the region until 2003. Refugees have established an administrative structure and schools that educate children in Kurdish. Also, 350 students are going to the universities at Arbil and Sulaymaniyah in the region under the authority of the northern Iraqi Kurdish administration.
The official said the trilateral mechanism established between Turkey, Iraq and the United States against the PKK was currently put into practice, with Turkey pressuring Iraq and the United States to disperse the camp. Turkey sees Mahmur as the PKK’s main recruiting ground.
The U.N.-supervised Mahmur camp is approximately 100 kilometers from Arbil. Although the area is attached to the federal government of Iraq, Kurdish security forces linked to the federal government are in control.
The refugees’ needs at the camp are being taken care of by the United Nations, and most of them have found jobs in the towns of Arbil, Sulaymaniyah, Mosul and Duhok in recent years. All refugees are under the total control of the 60-strong administrative personnel of the camp. No reporters are allowed in the camp without the permission of the administrative staff.
On the issue of dispersing Mahmur, the official said, “Turkey cannot get involved directly so it wanted the regional Kurdish authority to do so. They refused.”
Local sources also said the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq was trying to distance itself from efforts to disperse the camp and trying to shift the responsibility to Baghdad.
“The plan is to annul the U.N. supervision over the camp and turn over the authority to Baghdad,” he said. But locals say the U.N. authorities in the region are not involved in such plans and would object if notified.
The official said Baghdad would slowly empty the camp, coercing the refugees if necessary. “This is a very hard thing to do; 12,000 people have been living here for years. Most of them have families,” he noted.
The official said the most rational solution would be to provide the necessary conditions in Turkey to allow the refugees to go back to Turkey on their own volition.
Source: Hurriyet
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=mahmur-camp8217s-future-unclear-2009-07-29