Kurdistan Region receives 10,000 Syrian refugees, builds new camps

Since the beginning of Ankara’s assault on northeastern Syria earlier this month, more than 10,000 Syrian refugees have arrived to the Kurdistan Region, an official said on Thursday.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Since the beginning of Ankara’s assault on northeastern Syria earlier this month, more than 10,000 Syrian refugees have arrived to the Kurdistan Region, an official said on Thursday.

“The Kurdistan region already has 38 camps, and we are constructing a new camp for refugees in Bardarash District,” said Hoshang Mohammed, Director-General of the Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC).

Mohammed also mentioned that, currently, “there are 791,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and 229,000 Rojava [Syrian Kurdistan] refugees,” in the Kurdistan Region, with an additional 10,000 refugees who recently arrived from northern Syria.

Mohammed also discussed the difficulties in the helping IDPs and refugees return to their homes in liberated areas as “fear of ISIS insurgent attacks, absence of essential services and stability is forcing them to stay in camps in the Kurdistan Region.”

The current camps in the Kurdistan Region were built as a rapid response to the IDP and refugee crisis emanating from the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and the “tents and equipment are not made for long-term durability. For that reason, we are coordinating with UN to replace them with plans to build more camps and bringing new sustainable and durable tents,” added Mohammed.     

Late Wednesday night, Prime Minister of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Masrour Barzani in a tweet emphasized the importance of having a contingency plan to receive 1,000 Syrian refugees on a daily basis and called on international partners to support the KRG as it prepares to face the implications of a new crisis in Syria.

Over the past few years, the Kurdistan Region has been home to 1.8 million IDPs and refugees who fled from Syria and other parts of Iraq due to the threats of the Islamic State. Nearly four million Iraqis were displaced when the Islamic State emerged in northern Iraq in mid-2014.

Edting by Nadia Riva