DOMIZ, Kurdistan Region – More than 1,000 refugees have fled northern Syria and crossed into the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq since Turkey began its offensive against Kurdish forces, sparking mass displacement and a humanitarian crisis. But the way out of northern Syria is not easy. Most if not all of the refugees paid smugglers to get them across the border.
Ali Mustafa left his village near Kobane nine days ago when Turkey first started its incursion. “We saw what happened in Afrin, so we don’t trust them,” he said, referring to the killing, kidnapping, looting, and abuse committed by Turkish-backed Syrian militias in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, which Turkey invaded in early 2018.
The border between Syria and the Kurdistan Region is officially open, but aid workers and refugees say the problem is actually reaching the border. Kurdish forces on the Syrian side are tightly controlling the roads leading to border crossings and not everyone is allowed to pass through their checkpoints.
Mustafa paid a smuggler $400 to bring him to the Kurdistan Region. “Others paid up to $1,000,” he said.
He travelled two hours by horse, then by boat across the Tigris River, and finally a three-hour hike through mountains before finally reaching a village where some Peshmerga were based. The soldiers examined everyone’s identification documents and questioned each, paying close attention to their accents. “Two men had scars on their legs and no ID,” said Mustafa. They also sounded foreign. The Peshmerga detained them and brought the rest, including Mustafa, to Domiz refugee camp.
Domiz camp is home to Syrian refugees, some of which have been living there since the conflict first began over the border in 2011. Two days ago, about 180 new refugees arrived. The camp has limited space so gave priority to families with children. About 100 people, more than half under the age of 18, are staying in temporary shelters in the camp and the rest are sleeping in mosques and centres around the camp, explained Marwa Mamoon, an aid worker with Harikar, a local charity that is partnered with the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
Everyone who has arrived at the camp “came by smuggling,” she said.
Tom Peyre-Costa, spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Iraq, said they are concerned about reports of people paying to be brought across the border. “We call out to everyone to guarantee safe passage” of the refugees, he said.
NRC has documented 1,006 refugees, crossing the border at multiple points. The refugees are being brought to Bardarash camp, which was first built to house families displaced from Mosul during the operation to oust the Islamic State (ISIS) from the northern Iraqi city.
The camp was closed a few years ago, but is now being rehabilitated to house a new group of people driven from their homes by war.
“It’s short notice but all actors, with the Kurdistan Region government, are working to rehabilitate the camp,” said Peyre-Costa.
The first tents are up and water services are running – just in time to welcome the first 300 refugees that arrived on Wednesday.
Mustafa is one of 11 men and boys, aged between 15 and 40, living in a mosque just outside the fence of Domiz camp. He fled conscription into the Syrian Arab Army in 2013 and was able to live safely in the Kurdish-administered autonomous region of northern Syria until Turkey’s offensive last week. Now, he doesn’t know where he will go.
“If I go back Syria will kill me, Turkey will kill me. And Trump left us,” he said, repeating a common sentiment among Kurds that the American president betrayed them when he stepped aside, allowing Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to roll his tanks into northern Syria.
“I don’t trust Europe, America, France. I don’t believe anyone. Democracy is for money. It’s a business; not for peace,” said Mustafa. Even refugees are a business and someone is making money off those trying to reach safety.
With translations by Rediyar Hassan
