Families of PKK Rebels Wait for Return of Loved Ones

[Aslan]

MAKHMOUR CAMP, Kurdistan Region – For the hundreds of families at the Makhmour Refugee Camp in Iraqi Kurdistan, the peace deal between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been a relief.

That is because nearly every one of the 1,600 families at the camp has a loved one among the PKK guerrillas, who for more than a week have been withdrawing from Turkey into their Qandil Mountain base in Iraqi Kurdistan as part of a deal with Ankara.

In her small and modest home at the camp, Duran Abdulla, whose husband Hisam is a PKK fighter, switches from one television channel to another, desperate for the latest updates about the phased withdrawal which began May 8, and which the PKK says will take several weeks.

Abdulla, who has been married for just over two decades and has not seen her husband for more than a year, says that fear had always reigned over the camp, as families dreaded receiving news of deaths or injuries among the guerrillas.

“Now this fear has stopped," says Abdulla. "The day of the guerrilla withdrawal was a historic moment for us, and for the mothers of the martyrs.”

An estimated 40,000 people have died in the PKK’s three-decade armed conflict with the Turkish state for greater rights for the country’s large Kurdish minority.

The withdrawal from Turkey is the latest step of a peace process agreed between Ankara and imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Durra said camp residents welcomed the peace process wholeheartedly.

“We are proud of it and happy with it. We also feel sad for the imprisoned Kurds in Turkey,” she added.

The PKK has previously stated it would withdraw around 2,000 of its guerrillas from Turkey in a gradual manner. However, the Turkish authorities said around 1,500 PKK guerrillas would be pulling out. It added that about 700 of them had no legal issues with the government, and could return to their own families in Turkey.

According to Turkish media, in the first phase of the withdrawal around 100 guerrillas left the regions of Hakari and Sirnak and moved to the Kurdistan Region, with their movements monitored by Turkish military helicopters.

Abdulla has several photos of Ocalan hanging on her walls. She believes that the struggle is not yet over, and prefers her husband to stay at the Qandil base until the peace process becomes a sure thing.

"When peace succeeds completely, my husband can come back permanently," she said.

"I want to live in quiet and peace with my husband. We want to live some good days with the martyr families, guerrillas and with our leader. This is the wish of every person of conscience.”