Makhmour Refugee Camp

In 1994, the refugees fleeing the Kurdish villages close to the Turkish Iraqi border were initially based in a camp in Atroush, further north, but in 1997,[3] the Atroush camp was closed by the after Turkey made accusations that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) recruited members amongst its inhabitants.[3] Following, a major part of the inhabitants accepted an offer by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to move to Makhmur and another group moved to Ain Sifni.[4] From Ain Sifni the refugees had to flee fighting between the PKK and the KDP, who was supported in its fight by the Turkish army. The Refugees then settled to Sheikan, but their situation remained dire as the KDP did not allow the UNHCR to provide help to the refugees.[4] Eventually the World Food Programm and the UNHCR managed to gain access to the refugees. Then the refugees opted to also move to Makhmur and join the other former inhabitants of the Atroush Camp.[4]

The Makhmur camp was established in 1998.[5] The camp receives the support of the UNHCR, which helped them to provide the refugees with legal documentation in 2011, which allows them to access to education and health services. Holders of the residency permit are also permitted to apply for work provided by the Government.[3] In 2014, as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), captured large areas of Iraq, the Makhmour Protection Units (MPU) where established. The same year, Masoud Barzani, then the president of the KRG visited the camp, after the Kurdish forces evicted ISIL from the Kurdish regions south of Erbil.[6] From July 2019 onwards, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has limited the liberty of movement of most of the inhabitants of the camp in such way, that many have lost their jobs outside of the camp and the health services were not been able to be provided in an adequate way, the Human Rights Watch reported in November 2019. Dindar Zebari from the KRG, stated that the measure was taken out of security reasons.[7]

The refugee camp and its surroundings are often a target for Turkish airstrikes.[8][9][10] Makhmur Camp was bombed for 40 minutes during Operation Claw-Eagle (2020), launched by the Turkish Armed Forces on 15 June 2020. A Turkish official spoke to the BBC after the operation, "We carried out an operation in Mahmur more than a year ago, we destroyed their warehouses. We saw that they made new storage in a year. New roads were built around Makhmur. They are seeking to infiltrate our country through these roads. For this reason, we organized an operation once again.''[11]

Several members of the PKK come from this camp. A "Garden of the Martyrs" was established at the camp, where deceased PKK members are remembered.[1] Dutch state television NOS journalist Bram Vermeulen was among those who confirmed that Makhmur Camp was a PKK camp. 4 November 2012 "Langs de Grenzen van Turkije: Tussen twee Vuren Iraq" (Along the borders of Turkey, between two fire: Iraq) in the name of the program Makhmur Camp those in "This is a political camp. Our leader is Abdullah Öcalan. ''We are fighting our struggle here. We are all members of the PKK.''[12]