ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region is expecting to receive more than 250,000 refugees from northern Syria if conflict continues between Kurdish fighters and Turkish-backed forces, warned the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Sunday.
"If the turmoil is short-term and it will end in the near future, we will expect to receive only a few thousand. If not, we will expect to receive 30 to 50,000 in the first phase," Rebar Ahmed, Minister of the Interior of the KRG said in a press conference following a meeting with United Nations (UN) agencies in Iraq and Kurdistan to make preparations the new arrivals. "If it is a long-term turmoil, we will receive more than 250,000 refugees," he added.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring last week with the aim of pushing Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) south of the border and establishing a "safe zone" that could accommodate as many as three million Syrian refugees now living in Turkey.
Ahmed called on entities present in the area to ensure those fleeing to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) are cared for, as well as maintaining services to the large scores of displaced already in the region.
"As the KRG, we have called on UN organizations to sustain their assistance so we can provide the best possible services to those fleeing to Kurdistan or living here as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or refugees," Ahmed said.
"We will welcome any refugee seeking shelter in the Kurdistan Region fleeing from war in Syria," Ahmed said. "We have ordered the provinces, security and other relevant authorities to carry out their duties when receiving refugees."
Duhok will bear most of the brunt of the new waves of refugees fleeing from neighboring Syria, he added. UNHCR estimates that as of September 2019, just under 80,000 Syrian refugees lived in the province- mostly in Domiz camp, which is welcoming scores more as Turkey continues its offensive.
"So far, 5000 refugees have arrived in the Kurdistan Region. A camp has been established in Bardarash," he said, warning more camps are needed to be set up as the number of the refugees rises daily.
"We held the meeting so as to inform all sides that they should be assisting the Kurdistan Region," he noted.
The KRG is also calling on the Iraqi government to take partial responsibility for the crisis.
"In the past five years, the Kurdistan Region sheltered more than two million IDPs [from other parts of Iraq]. We are urging them to assist the KRG in this delicate situation and extend more assistance to the IDPs," he said
More than 300,000 people have been internally displaced in northeastern Syria since Turkey launched its operation since October 9, the The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political arm of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a press conference on Sunday in Qamishli.
The SDC added that 235 civilians have been killed including 22 children and 677 wounded since the start of the Turkish operation.
