ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syrian Kurdish refugees in Erbil will be relocated to two new camps in the same province ahead of the coming winter months, provincial governor Nawzad Hadi announced this week.

He announced that refugees in the Bahrka and Bekhma camps will be relocated to new facilities in Darashakran and Basirma.

Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011 more than 200,000 refugees, mainly Kurds, have crossed into the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.

Tens of thousands arrived last month, after Kurdistan authorities opened the border to families fleeing violent clashes between the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) and rebels of the extremist Islamist Jabhat al-Nusrah.

The Erbil governor also decided to establish a special board for refugee affairs and to oversee their relocation to the new camps. The new board is to coordinate between the Red Crescent, the Barzani Foundation and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which are currently providing aid to the refugees.

With no end in sight to the war in Syria and a quick return of refugees to their homes, Kurdistan authorities have announced plans to provide schools, hospitals, water, electricity and fire-fighting services to refugees in the Qushtapa and Basirma camps in Erbil province.


RUDAW