The Maxmur refugee camp in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq) was targeted by yet another Turkish drone attack on Tuesday afternoon, which left three women injured. The residents of the self-administered camp protested in the evening with a march to the UN building against the continued attacks by the Turkish state.

The approximately 12,000 residents are mostly Kurds who fled the Botan region in Northern Kurdistan (South-Eastern Turkey) in1994 due to the destruction of their villages by the Turkish military, as well as their descendants. The camp has been repeatedly bombed since 2017, and the Erdoğan regime has carried out 13 airstrikes on the residents of the camp in the last five years.

Filiz Budak, co-chair of the Maxmur People's Council, explained in front of the UN building on Tuesday evening that the attacks were intended to intimidate the population of the camp and drive them out once again. “The HPG officially announced in 2023 that they had withdrawn from this region. The governments of Iraq and Turkey are also aware of this. The attacks are continuing nonetheless. The main aim is to break the will of the people of Maxmur, who have been resisting oppression for thirty years. Whatever is done, these people will not give up their resistance,” said Budak.

Guerrillas from the HPG (People’s Defense Forces) and YJA Star (Free Women’s Troops) came from the mountains to the region in 2014 to defend Shengal (Sinjar), Maxmur and Kirkuk against the hordes of the ISIS terrorist militia. Among other things, this stopped the advance of ISIS to Hewlêr (Erbil). Afterwards, KDP President Massoud Barzani personally came to Maxmur to thank the PKK guerrillas for their efforts. Following the liberation and stabilisation of the region, the guerrillas were gradually withdrawn. In October last year, the HPG declared that the withdrawal from Maxmur Camp had been completed.

According to Filiz Budak, a delegation from the Iraqi Ministry of Migration was in the camp at the time of yesterday's airstrike. She said that the Iraqi representatives had been carrying out a census for twelve days, allegedly for the return of the United Nations (UN). Maxmur is officially under the protection of the UNHCR, but the organisation left the camp in 2014 due to the ISIS attacks and never returned.

Turkey bombed Maxmur despite the presence of the Iraqi delegation, emphasised Filiz Budak and added: “Where is Iraqi sovereignty? This camp has been constantly bombed since 2017. Dozens of people have been killed and injured. The Iraqi government says nothing about it. There has been a dirty deal against the Kurdish people since the Treaty of Lausanne. As the people of Maxmur, we condemn the betrayal of the Barzanis and call for resistance against the attacks on Maxmur, Sulaymaniyah and Rojava.”