Beypazarı, Ankara

TURKEY: BEYPAZARI REFUGEE CAMP (TENT CITY)

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Turkish/Nat Thousands of Kurds are being displaced from their villages on the Iraqi border as Turkey's army intensifies its offensive against P-K-K (Kurdistan Workers' Party) rebels. So far, hundreds of villages have been burned and destroyed leaving civilian Kurds without a home and, in most cases, nowhere to go. Some face the threat of being displaced into central Turkey without food, water or electricity. Two hours drive north-west of Turkey's capital Ankara lies a tent city, a cluster of poorly constructed frames covered in plastic sheeting and clothing to act as insulation. The 200 Kurds that live here on the outskirts of Beypazari, were driven from their villages because of fighting in Southern Turkey near the cross borders of Syria and Iraq in 1990. Everything to build this 'Tent City' as the locals call it, has been stolen or purchased with what little money they have from local markets. Water to drink and wash in, is taken from a well on nearby farmland, and no electricity is provided. According to the inhabitants of the Tent City , their appeals to the state for help are being ignored - they say they are told they are Kurds, terrorists and therefore enemies of the state. The biggest concern in the camp is health. A lack of medicines means the children are always ill and doctors in nearby Beypazari allegedly refuse to treat them. Illiteracy is high, there is no money for books and no schooling for the children. The government is blamed for their poverty and squalor; they say the government drove them from their homes and then left them with nothing. Camp elders say they are in constant anxiety and pray for a better future. SOUNDBITE: (Turkish) "We want bloodshed to stop, we want to return home" SUPERCAPTION: Cemal, Tent City Elder. But their hope is a distant one, first they want what they call persecution by the state to end. SOUNDBITE: (Turkish) "Because we are Kurds, the state discriminates against us. Although we say there is no difference between Turks and Kurds and even the state says there is no difference between the Turks and Kurds. We are in this position because we say we are Kurds and also the State blames us for getting into contact with the P-K-K, but we have nothing to do with the P-K-K." SUPERCAPTION: Cemal, Tent City Elder. For more than 70 years the Kurds have been calling for autonomy that would take land from Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. But their calls have fallen on deaf ears, resulting in the P-K-K's armed struggle which started in 1984. That struggle has left 15,000 people dead and over 200,000 displaced. Turkey is trying desperately to bring to an end the P-K-K terrorism which has caused so much hardship and pain. But in doing so, the country finds itself inflicting its own pain on those who say they just want to return to a normal life. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4104e7bc97cba8882f58093f8743d62f Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork