The Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) terrorist organization expelled 4,000 Iraqi refugees taking shelter in the al-Hawl refugee camp in eastern Syria, according to reports.
Ali Al Bayati, a member of the Iraqi Independent Higher Human Rights Commission, said that PYD terrorists who hold the control of the camp located in the southeastern Syrian city of al-Hasakah sent the Iraqi refugees to dangerous areas only a few kilometers away from where the Daesh terrorist organization is located.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.
Stating that political attitudes based on the crisis between the Baghdad government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the main reason of the incident, Bayati noted that the Iraqi authorities have not made any official contact since the camp is located in an area outside of the Syrian regime’s control.
On Sept. 25, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) held an illegal referendum, voting on whether or not to declare independence from Baghdad.
According to Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoMD), around 4 million Iraqis were internally displaced and thousands more were forced to flee to neighboring countries due to violence in the country.
