In Suruc thousands of displaced people from Kobane are living in camps run by the municipality. In these camps, young volunteers from all over Turkey distribute food, and doctors and health workers provide services. The atmosphere in the camps is friendly, with the displaced people getting involved in the running of the tent cities.

There are 6 tent cities in the town of Suruc, in Urfa province near the border with Syria. Zuhal Ekmez, co-mayor of the town since the local elections last March, bridles at the use of the word ‘refugee’ to describe the people from Kobane. “They are the same as us. They are Kurdish, displaced from their homes. They are not refugees,” she says. She adds that it has been difficult to bring more women into the municipal work force, both on account of limitations imposed by the budget and by social mores that stipulate women cannot do manual work. She says at present there are only 5 women in the 200-strong municipal workforce, adding that when there is recruitment women will have priority. At the municipal depot where food and other necessities are distributed to the camps other DBP (Party of Democratic Regions) municipalities in Kurdistan have lent ambulances, trucks and other vehicles to assist in the monumental efforts needed to accommodate more than 60,000 people who fled Kobane after the major ISIS offensive began on 15 September. Following the recent liberation of Kobane, thousands of people have returned, despite the urgent need for re-construction of the devastated city and a clean-up. Hundreds of corpses of ISIS members killed in the fighting still need to be removed from the debris of collapsed buildings.

The Turkish authorities continues to hamper relief efforts by refusing to open up a corridor to allow aid into the Kobane canton, where YPG/YPJ fighters are endeavouring to drive ISIS gangs from outlying villages. Although some foreign journalists have been allowed into Kobane for short periods of time, the Turkish authorities now appear to have decided not to allow access to the foreign press on account of what they see as adverse comment made about Turkish government policy as regards the Turkish government’s stance towards ISIS.

In stark contrast to the municipality-run friendly tent cities in Suruc, the AFAD state-run camp a few kilometres outside Suruc on the road to Urfa looks more like a prison camp than a camp for people fleeing a war zone. The Turkish government has spent millions of lira building the camp, which has a capacity of 35 thousand, but fewer than ten thousand people are staying there. Kurds are reluctant to go to a camp where there is only Arabic and Turkish education. Residents are also searched as they enter the camp, which has nearly a hundred private security guards. The camp is certainly clean and has its own supermarket, where residents may spend the 87 lira (£23) they receive monthly. With the onset of spring, more displaced people will return to Kobane to rebuild their lives and it seems likely that the AFAD camp will continue to remain largely empty.