The embargo imposed on Makhmur (Mexmûr) Camp has been continous for over one year and six months.
Located 60 kilometers southwest of Hewlêr (Erbil), Makhmur Camp has been a victim of a serious embargo since 2019 meaning more than 12,000 residents of the camp have no freedom of movement.
Nobody is allowed through the checkpoint of the camp and a ban on entry and exits are imposed by the security forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), who has blockaded the entire area of the autonomous region since July 17, 2019, when an officer of Turkey’s National Intelligence was gunned down in northern Iraq.
The camp hosts approximately 12,000 political refugees, most of whom are women and children. The residents of Makhmur camp consist of the Kurdish migrants, who were displaced from Turkey’s Şırnak (Şirnex) and Hakkari (Colemerg) regions when their villages was burnt to the ground in the 1990s by the Turkish military forces.
Whilst the KRG has imposed a strict embargo on Makhmur camp for 1,5 years now, Leyla Arzu İlhan, the Spokesperson of the Makhmur Diplomacy Committee, stressed that the residents of the camp face serious problems as they lack all means to recieve proper education and health services.
İlhan called on the United Nation to take action against the punative embargo and targeted air strikes periodically launched by the Turkish state against the refugee camp.
