Nûdem Yaman, co-chair of the Council of the People’s Assembly of the Martyr Rustem Cudi Refugee Camp (Maxmur), said that the camp has been standing for 30 years with a will and goal shaped on the basis of Abdullah Öcalan’s ideas.
Yaman harshly criticized the Iraqi government’s embargo on the camp and the detentions targeting the Maxmur People’s Assembly. She said: “We call on all those who defend human rights and refugee rights, especially the UN, to act because this embargo must be lifted immediately.”
Yaman emphasized that the arrest of Maxmur People’s Assembly co-chair Ahmet Şehbaz was the Iraqi government’s second violation against the co-chairs, stressing that this practice was aimed at targeting the will of the camp.
She noted that camp residents are detained daily on the grounds that they have no identity documents, and that many, including the co-chair of the Assembly, have been arrested multiple times. Yaman said: “This problem does not come from us but from the practices of the Iraqi state. Therefore, the solution also lies with the Iraqi state.”
Highlighting that the camp has been standing for 30 years with a will and goal shaped by the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan, Yaman said: “Despite all the pressure, massacres, and embargoes, the people of the camp have relied on their will and have never submitted to any state. We have never handed over our will to the Turkish state, and we will not hand it over to the Iraqi state either. There may be detentions and pressures, but we will not take a step back from our struggle. Everyone should know that this camp will not give up its will.”
She added: “We appeal to all those who defend human and refugee rights, especially the UN; this embargo must be ended. Because we are a refugee camp that must be protected under the UN framework. Iraq must also end its oppressive practices on the camp and release our co-chair.”
Since 10 April, the Iraqi government has been imposing a heavy embargo on the Martyr Rustem Cudi Refugee Camp in Maxmur. Under the embargo, construction materials, medicines, and educational supplies are not allowed into the camp. Because entry of many basic needs, including food, is also banned, serious problems have arisen in the camp.
One of the biggest problems is that residents without identity documents are prevented from entering Iraqi cities. As a result, many people are detained and held for days. In particular, in May, a delegation of camp administrators who went to Baghdad to seek a solution was detained for 37 days.