MAKHMOUR, Iraq: Fifteen years after they were driven out by bloodshed, thousands of Kurdish refugees living in a camp in northern Iraq dream of returning to Turkey, but say they will not move unless Ankara grants extensive political and cultural rights to Kurds. The return of the 12,000 refugees in the UN-run camp at Makhmour is part of the Turkish government’s as-yet undetailed plan to broaden freedoms for its Kurdish community and secure an end to the 25-year violence by separatist Kurdish rebels. 

But the inhabitants of the camp, set up in 1998 in a dry and arid zone about 50 kilometers south of Irbil, want to see concrete guarantees before they make their way back home. 

“We are here for a cause and as long as we do not get what we want, we will not come back,” says Makbule Oren, 29-year-old mother of six. 

And their demands – constitutional recognition of the Kurdish identity, Kurdish-language education, regional autonomy and immediate end of the violence – are exactly the same as those of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has been fighting Ankara since 1984 for self-rule. 

“We are all supporters of the PKK even though we are not members,” says Mahmud Manav, a member of the camp’s administrative council. “We are the families of the PKK; our brothers, children are currently fighting within their ranks.” 

Turkey has long been pressing for the closure of Makhmour, charging that the camp is controlled by the PKK and serves as a supply base of fresh militants to the organization, which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community. 

In the heart of the sprawling camp, a mausoleum covered with pictures of about 600 “martyrs” (PKK rebels killed in fighting) with family ties to the camp, stands as testimony to the strong ties uniting the refugees and the rebels. 

The plight of Makhmour’s inhabitants – now told to the camp’s 5,000 children as an “epic” – is closely linked to the PKK’s armed campaign. 

The refugees fled from Turkey across rugged mountains in 1994 at the peak of the bloodshed between the rebels and the army. They spent the next four years drifting from place to place in the north of Iraq, under harassment from Iraqi Kurds, who were then a close ally of Ankara against the PKK. 

They finally found refuge at the 36th parallel, the no-man’s land that at the time separated the Kurdish-run north of Iraq and the south of the country, controlled by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. 

“On one side, the Iraqi Kurds were shooting at us; on the other side, there was a mine field of Saddam,” recalls Manav, whose son lost a leg in a mine explosion. 

“Our kids were lying under plastic bags amid scorpions … In one night, 51 people were stung by scorpions,” he adds. 

Since then, conditions at the camp have improved considerably. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR took charge of the camp and the refugees built houses, schools and coffee shops. They now work in nearby fields and construction sites. 

But, even if they emphasize their devotion to the “cause,” the inhabitants of Makhmour nonetheless express a strong despite to return home. 

“Of course, I miss home a lot.    Many members of our family who stayed in Turkey are now married; they have children who we never saw,” says Oren. 

Last month, 26 refugees from the camp, among them four children, crossed the border into Turkey, along with eight PKK rebels as a show of support for Ankara’s so-called Kurdish opening. 

To decide who would join the peace group, camp authorities issued a call for candidates. 

“In one day, we received 400 applications.” Manav says.