SYRIZA MP
Nantia Valavani in a mission at Kobani
Part
II
When ISIS
begun to attack Kobani on September 29, 200,000 civilians left the
town and the villages close to it and crossed the borders with Turkey
through suffering and major losses. Half of them went deeper inside
Turkey and the other half stayed close to the borders, hoping, like
the mother of the dead young man, that the army of "Caliphate"
would be defeated so they could return to their country.
During the
two days we stayed across the Kobani, we visited the two camps of
AFAD (national service of civil protection), where close to 7,000
refugees are staying, as well as, a camp of the city hall called
"Arin Mirkan" - after the name of the female Kurdish
fighter who killed on the other side - hosting 4,000 refugees.
Currently, the city hall is responsible for the rest 90,000 staying
in camps built by the local authorities - and host 20,000 people -
and in various houses inside the town and the villages, like the one
we stayed at night. Both the AFAD commander and the local state
governor told us that the target of AFAD is to host - with the help
of Red Crescent as the only international organization active in the
area - totally 30,000 refugees in one month as this is the limit of
their capabilities. Red Crescent will then need to secure 90,000
rations of food every day, which under current circumstances, without
foreign help, is beyond its power. But even then, the Suruc
municipality will have the responsibility for the survival of 70,000
people, most of them children: We never saw, until now, so many
children of all ages gathered in governmental and municipal camps.
We had a
discussion with HDP MPs, as well with the other members of the
mission of the European Left party - the first day they arrived at
Diyarbakır and the next morning at the offices of their party which
were similar to that of a social organization: Apart from the crowd
gathered outside the door, dozens of people of all ages and races
were waiting patiently as they flooded the stairs and the corridors
of the three-floor building, while inside the rooms, dozens of young
men and women were writing documents in PCs, or had short meetings.
We had also a conversation with Suruc's mayor - a serious young woman
who obviously had not the luxury to stay in bed to recover from the
flu.
The head of
the medical organization - with dozens of doctors and nurses working
voluntarily - at the municipal camps, participated in these
conversations. A doctor himself at the local hospital, which was
built to service 30,000 patients, the population of the area at that
time, he is called now to take care of 200,000 people, which is
impossible. Therefore, they work inevitably under priorities: First,
the Kobani fighters, taking care of 900 injured during the 40 days of
battles. Driving the ambulances of all the municipalities of the area
which are transferred to Suruc, they go to the other side to collect
the injured, as we witnessed the day of our departure.
On October
28, afternoon, there was a funeral of five male and female fighters
at Suruc cemetery and the ceremony was transformed into a protest by
thousands of people. Although the burial is done using a shroud in
this area, the five fighters, as well as others who died previously
in the hospital, were buried in coffins with the seal of the
municipality of Diyarbakır, so that to take them back to Kobani
after the final victory.
Second
priority for medical treatment are the children. How about the rest?
Suruc's Kaymakam delivered to us a long list of medicines and
another one of food products, both at enormous quantities, made for
those international organizations that are interested to help. During
the meeting with HDP MPs and doctor at Suruc town hall, when I gave
them this list to see it, they told us that it's not complete and
these quantities are not enough. They asked for more: Thousands of
containers to host families who live in tents. AFAD's tents as well
as the rest supplied by the government or collected from other
municipalities of South-East Turkey, settled roughly, to shelter the
"flood" of refugees during October, are plastic, unsuitable
for heavy rains and cold winters.
Kaymakam
requested 8,000 heaters, but they do not help much with the tents
flooding inside a lake of mud, as will happen everywhere during the
first rain. Containers should also be able to shelter schools and
thousands of children as well as hospitals inside the camps. They
need also nearly 20 more ambulances because the ones they have are
heavily treated - there are even holes from gunshots on them - and
are not enough.
Source
and pictures:
Part I
here:
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