Syrian-Kurdish refugees, Jvan Khaled and his wife Shekha, celebrate their wedding ceremony at the Kawergosk refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan on November 22, 2013. (Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images)[/caption]
Iraqi Kurds are familiar with life as refugees. For years the tyranny of Saddam Hussein forced Kurds to leave their homes for refuge in neighboring countries. Today, in a change of fortunes and with newfound prosperity it is the Iraqi Kurds who are playing host to the latest exodus arriving from Syria.
The UN refugee agency, working alongside the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has set up thirteen camps and transit sites housing more than 200,000 refugees, almost all of which are ethnic Kurds from Syria.
Syria’s Kurds have received a warm welcome from their cousins across the border. Solidarity from the local Kurdish population has been shown through generous donations of everything from food and clothing to home appliances and money. This commonality was apparent on a camp visit by KRG President Massoud Barzani when he told Syrian Kurds that they were at home and should not feel like refugees.
Kurds are Syria’s largest ethnic minority and amount to more than 10 per cent of the country’s population. They have long suffered discrimination under the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad and many see in Iraq’s autonomous region a place where they can settle among people with common roots, culture and language.
The KRG has gone to great lengths to accommodate the newcomers. Camp residents have been granted six-month renewable resident permits allowing them to come and go as they please and many have found work in nearby towns. Refugees also have access to education and primary health care. The larger camps boast hairdressing salons, food stalls and even wedding boutiques.
Despite a promising start, concerns are now growing over the cost to the government and its ability to keep up with demand for shelter. The flood of Syrian refugees has put further strain on the already over-stretched resources of the KRG. The Syrian Kurds join thousands of internally displaced people who have fled the sectarian violence in other parts of Iraq.
Domiz camp in Duhok governorate hosts the majority of Syrian refugees, estimated to be housing 45,000 people. Although it is well designed—with allocated spaces per family including a tent plot, cooking area and sanitation unit—the camp is now full to overflowing and many families have to live in tents outside the perimeter amid harsh winter conditions. One camp resident, Khadija, 52, said, “If nothing else, here we have security. As soon as we get that back in Syria, we will return home.”
Iraqi Minister of Displacement and Migration, Dindar Dosky, explained that the KRG would no longer have the means to accept more refugees as its camps reach full capacity. “The KRG has run out of the funds and resources it requires to go on providing for the influx of refugees pouring into the region, and its generosity is no longer sustainable unless further investment is provided,” he said. Dosky added that the way forward was for the KRG to collaborate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to raise more money and support from the international community.
Speaking in a meeting chaired by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees last month, the deputy head of Kurdistan’s foreign relations department, Dindar Zebari stressed that the region “urgently” needed funds to support the relief effort. He said that the KRG had already spent more than 70 million US dollars in accommodating Syrian refugees and had not received the necessary funds to augment its own limited resources.
For now, it looks as though the KRG will continue with their hospitality. Hoshyar Mustafa, the director for Arbat district, said another camp was due to open in his district in a month’s time. The hope is that, with effective cooperation between Kurdistan, the Iraqi federal government and international NGOs, Syrian refugees will continue to receive generous humanitarian assistance. Salar Mahmoud, head of the Human Rights Commission of the Parliament of the KRG, expressed this sentiment when he said: “Until they [Syrians] are here, the Kurdish people and the KRG will see it as their duty to care for them.”
All views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, The Majalla magazine.
