On 1 June 2021, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch an operation to “cleanse” the Makhmour refugee camp, home to over 13,000 Kurdish refugees. The self-defence forces of the democratically elected assembly that have been fighting off ISIS now find themselves threatened by another of Turkey’s attempts at ethnic cleansing. Amidst worldwide silence and a failure to stop Turkish aggression, a human rights crisis that has been going on for over a century needs to be finally recognised and spoken about.
IMPERIAL AMBITIONS, SYSTEMATIC OPPRESSION, AND A REFUGEE CRISIS
After decades of not being able to speak Kurdish in Turkey, Kurds still face oppression and are threatened within and outside of the Turkish borders. Since 1984, the Turkish Government and Army have destroyed over 4,000 Kurdish villages, killed over 30,000 Kurdish civilians, imprisoned around 500,000 Kurdish activists and political leaders, and forcefully relocated over three million Kurds. Kurds living in the southeast region of Turkey have been subject to systematic oppression, extreme torture, sexual abuse and rape from the Turkish police and army, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and arbitrary detentions.
The three million displaced Kurds fled to Iraq from Turkey in the 1990s and established the Atrush Camp from which they had to flee once again due to Turkish military aggression. The origins of the Makhmour Camp date back to 1998. Ankara has long viewed the Makhmour camp as a place where militants and their sympathisers reside. Turkish president Erdogan referred to it as a “terror-nest” and stated that “If the UN does not clean (it) up, we will as a UN member”. This is not the first time the refugees would face Turkish aggression as the camp was previously bombed in June 2020.
Reuters reports that protests took place in Sulaimaniya following the Turkish bombardments. Dozens marched with Kurdish flags denouncing the Turkish invasion and chanting “our voices are voices of freedom against occupation”. Protester Omid Saleh provided an account of the events, stating that “they are killing women and children…Turkey wants to occupy Kurdistan”.
VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW; A HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE
Despite the clear human rights violations and evident military aggression, the United Nations and the United States support Turkish plans to dissolve the camp and send its inhabitants back to Turkey. However, the Kurds of Makhmour Camp cannot safely return there. A Turkish attack like the previous attacks against Afrin and Ras al-Ain would lead once again to mass displacement, grave war crimes, and the loss of innocent lives. Erdogan’s threats of “cleansing” the camp amidst the current Turkish military action in Iraqi territory against Kurdish forces, launched on 23 April 2021, would signify a violation of international law, a humanitarian catastrophe, and an open violation of the non-refoulement principle.
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfiled, expressed a deep concern about “violence near the camp” and called on all sides to respect the rights of refugees. She stated that she had made clear to Turkish officials during her visit to Turkey that “any attack targeting civilians at Makhmour refugee camp would be a violation of international and humanitarian law”.
CONTINUOUS VIOLENCE AND MILITARY AGGRESSION AT MAKHMOUR REFUGEE CAMP
According to a report from the news agency Rudaw, a recent Turkish airstrike targeting the refugee camp left at least three people dead. All this amidst Turkey weaponising water in northern Syria by intentionally cutting off access to water for millions of innocent civilians. The accelerating military aggression against civilian targets in border villages raises alarming questions relating to the continuous genocidal policy of Turkey against Kurds and Turkey’s imperial ambitions of building military bases in Kurdish majority areas in Iraq and the annexation of areas of Iraq and Syria, as Operation Olive Branch in 2018 demonstrates. The recent attack was one of Turkey’s deepest into Iraqi territory since it launched operations Claw-Lighting and Claw-Thunderbolt on 23 April.
It is clear that Turkey’s claim of fighting against armed groups is simply a pretext to continue the genocidal campaign against Kurds. The questions that need to be posed here are many. Why is the United Nations silent? Why is there no international uproar? Most importantly, when will this Turkish aggression stop?
Alexandra is a History student at King's College London passionate about human rights and social justice. One day she hopes to be able to advocate as a barrister for those whose voices cannot be heard.