IRAQ: The Domiz refugee camp in Northern Iraq expands in a bid to house the large number of Syrian Kurds seeking shelter from the conflict across the border

Record ID: 346614

  • Title: IRAQ: The Domiz refugee camp in Northern Iraq expands in a bid to house the large number of Syrian Kurds seeking shelter from the conflict across the border
  • Date: 26th July 2012
  • Summary: YOUNG GIRL STANDING AT TENT ENTRANCE REFUGEE FAMILY SITTING INSIDE TENT YOUNG GIRL SLEEPING
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA80GXTSALNC8FKVQ0UVUNSRLAE
  • Story Text: The Domiz refugee camp in the Kurdish region of Iraq is being expanded to accommodate thousands of Syrian Kurds fleeing violence and economic hardship, the camp's manager said on Wednesday (July 25).
    More than 11,000 Syrians have crossed the border and found their way to Kurdistan, where local authorities and international agencies have set up a camp on a dusty plain.
    Most are living in the Domiz refugee camp in the northern province of Dohuk.

    "The number of refugees that have fled to Iraq's Kurdistan region is in excess of 11,000 refugees, and they are settled in the region's three provinces: Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniya. As for the Domiz refugee camp, the number of refugee families reached 696 families, equivalent to 2,800 people, but on the other side (of the camp), where young refugees are, the number (of refugees) has reached 4,500 people," said Niyaz Mohammed, manager of the Domiz refugee camp.
    As Syria's crisis escalates, the country's Kurdish provinces have been spared most of the violence. But increasingly, Syrian Kurds say they face economic hardship, kidnappings and instability.
    Many see Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan as a place where they can find work and easily settle with common roots and language.
    The Domiz camp is being expanded with the help of international organisations, in order to accommodate more people.

    "Work in the camp is continuously ongoing in cooperation with United Nations organisations including UNCHR and IOM, and international immigration organisations, in addition to municipality departments in the province and the Directorate of Displacement and Migration. The work is underway to complete phase three and four for the camp to receive the refugees. The capacity of the camp is 1,000 families which is equivalent to 10,000 people," said Niyaz Mohammed.
    The number of Syrians fleeing into Iraq is still small compared with the refugees crossing into Turkey and Lebanon.
    The camp's manager said the flow of refugees varies day by day.

    "Thirty-four refugee families have come to the camp over the past three days, so this number (of refugees) is relatively small in comparison with the number of refugees who arrived at the camp during the first days," said Mohammed.
    Refugees living in the camp complained about poor living conditions and called for more international aid.

    "I would like to say to international organisations that we have nothing, the conditions in Domiz camp are poor, we have zero. There are no bathrooms, and there is no food, we have nothing here. The appropriate living conditions are zero (non-existent), even those who want to fast during Ramadan cannot do so," said Ali Ahmed, a Syrian Kurdish refugee.
    Iraqi Kurdistan has been autonomous since 1991 and has its own provincial government and armed forces, though it still relies on the Baghdad central government for its budget.
    On Tuesday (July 24), local newspapers reported that Massoud Barzani, President of Iraq's Kurdistan region, confirmed that local Iraqi Kurdish forces were training Syrian Kurdish groups to fight against pro-Assad forces in Syria's Kurdistan region.

    "I did not see them but I have heard about young men who volunteered to take up arms and go there (to Kurdish areas in Syria) in order to protect our people and our villages, to stop the regime's army ravaging our areas," said Haval Guambari, a Syrian Kurdish refugee, as he sat in tent with his wife and daughters.
    The role played by Syria's Kurds in any post-Assad Syria will be important for neighbouring Turkey and Iran, where large Kurdish populations have long sought more independence.
    For many Kurdish refugees that kinship drove them across Syria into Iraqi Kurdistan instead of seeking refugee in Lebanon or Turkey, where they believed they would face more restrictions.
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