Women of Makhmur camp: Firm stance should be taken against Turkey’s crimes

The women living in the Makhmur refugee camp held a march to condemn yesterday's Turkish airstrikes and called on the international community to take a firm stance against Turkey’s crimes.

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  • Wednesday, 6 Jul 2022, 13:20

Makhmur (Maxmur) -The Makhmur refugee camp is located in the Makhmur District, Iraq. The Kurdish people, who fled the civil war between Kurds and the Turkish army in the 1990s, live in this refugee camp. The camp frequently becomes the target of attacks. Yesterday, Turkish drones attacked the camp. While a person was injured in the attack, many people have been negatively affected by the attack. The people living in the camp marched to the United Nations (UN) office in the camp to condemn the attack.

“Attacks have continued since 2017”

After the march, Nuran Sezgi, a member of the Ishtar Women's Council in the Makhmur Refugee Camp, made a speech and said, “This was not the first attack of the Turkish state with the support of the PDK (Kurdistan Democratic Party). The Turkish state has attacked our camp since 2017. In 1994, the people living in the camp faced many attacks but they never gave up and resisted. Today, we will resist again.”

Attacks affect children

Keriman Qawali, one of the women participating in the march, said that the Turkish state tries to intimidate the people by attacking their camp but they will never be intimidated. “Erdoğan does not say that they attack children, women and old people in the camp. The attacks affect children. The Turkish state and Erdoğan should know very well that they cannot annihilate the Kurdish people and the Kurdish people will prevail. We condemn the Iraqi and Kurdistan regional governments, if they did not support the Turkish state, the Turkish state would not attack the camp today,” she told NuJINHA.

“The international community should take a firm stance”

Condemning the attacks on the camp, Hemail Tekin said that she has lived in the camp as a refugee for 28 years. Pointing to the war policies of the KDP, she said, “The KDP has tried to annihilate us for three years but it should know that it cannot annihilate us. The Turkish state has been violating international law and conventions by attacking us. The international community should take a firm stance against the crimes committed by the Turkish state.”