Isis onslaught against Kurds in Syria brings ‘man-made disaster’ into Turkey

In the border town of Suruç, there is anger and despair among the Syrian Kurd refugees who have joined the exodus

Constanze Letsch in Suruç

The Guardian, Monday 22 September 2014 20.43 BST

In the small bus shuttling passengers between Gaziantep and the small predominantly Kurdish border town of Suruç, all conversation is focused on one topic only.

“Suruç is teeming,” says Izzettin Abdi Hacirashad, 51, a spare parts trader. “In the parks, the bus station, the streets. Everywhere. You will see.”

An estimated 130,000 refugees have crossed into Turkey over the past few days escaping the onslaught of Islamic State (Isis) militants who have pushed deep into Syrian Kurdish territory in their latest offensive, bringing the murderous conflict closer to the Turkish border.

The Turkish deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmuş, spoke on Monday of a “man-made disaster”. “This is not a natural disaster,” he said. “We don’t know how many more people may be forced to seek refuge … an uncontrollable force on the other side of the border is attacking civilians. The extent of the disaster is worse than a natural disaster.”

Hacirashad fears that more than 100 of the villages in the Kurdish enclave of Kobani have fallen to Isis. “They have many weapons. It worries me. They have so many more weapons than we do,” he says.

Mehmet Üstün, 54, holds on to several large bags filled with bread. “I am taking these back to Suruç for all the refugees. These poor people have nothing left. It’s our duty to help them.” He is housing five families from across the border, some of them his distant relatives. Another man from Kobani, 33, who wishes to remain anonymous fearing for the safety of relatives thought to have been captured by Isis, brought his family to Gaziantep only three days ago. He is now on his way back to the border.

For the past three months he has been fighting with the People’s Defence Corps (PYD), the armed wing of the Democratic Union party (PYD), the Syrian Kurdish affiliate of the better-known Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK). In the past he manned a checkpoint close to the Euphrates, an area now overrun by Isis. “We get an AK and 60 bullets each,” he explains. “That’s all we have to defend ourselves against the massive arsenal of Islamic State.”

Many of the Syrian Kurds who have been driven out of the enclave of Kobani over the past week report that Isis uses artillery and heavy weaponry thought to have been looted from Iraqi arsenals. “They have military vehicles, rockets, missiles. What do you think an AK-type gun can do against that?” the man from Kobani says.

“We are very tired,” Hacirashad admits. “It’s been three years. And it is getting worse every day.” He shows a gruesome image from his Facebook page on his phone showing a Kurdish fighter being beheaded by Isis jihadis.

“His name was Sinur, he was only 40 years old. What real Muslim would commit such crimes?” He adds that Isis is so terrifying that people flee their villages before the first shots are fired. “We saw what they did in Shengal. How can people not be afraid?”

The refugees who have managed to escape the latest Isis attacks all report atrocities committed by the Islamist militants against Kurds in Syria, including beheadings, stonings, and the blanket torching of homes and entire villages.

Newroza, 35, describes how Isis militants beat a 15-year-old girl to death, crushing her skull with a rock. “Only because she was Kurdish,” she says, angry tears in her eyes. “I want to go and fight them. If I had a weapon, I would go and kill them.” She now sleeps in a small park in the centre of Suruç, together with her four children. “We will not let them take Kobani from us.”

In the park in front of the municipal cultural centre, where many families from Kobani have found temporary refuge, dozens of men and women are glued to a flat-screen TV that has been suspended somewhat precariously from one of the windows overhead. It is tuned to Nuce TV, the successor of the pro-PKK Roj TV channel, banned in Turkey and broadcasting out of Brussels.

“That’s my village on TV now,” says Ahmed, 29, from Kobani, pointing at the screen. “See, that’s the PYD fighters throwing Isis out of there. But now they are somewhere to the west, bombing the next village.”

Three days ago Ahmed brought his family to safety in Turkey. Now he wants to go back to fight against Isis. “Turkish soldiers at the border don’t let me cross, they say it’s not allowed,” he says. “All I want is to defend my land and my village. I will find a way to get there.” One of his friends says that getting across the border has become difficult, and that Turkish soldiers control many of the illegal crossing points. “Since there are landmines in many areas here, you can’t just walk anywhere,” Ahmed says. “But if I live or die, I will go back to Kobani.”

Tension on the Turkish side of the border was soaring on Monday. Clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurds wanting to approach the border gates to reach their relatives or to cross into Syria continued throughout the day, with Turkish police using teargas and water cannon against protesters.

“We have come all the way from Mardin to support our people in Kobani,” says one elderly man whose group is stranded at a police checkpoint near the border. “All we want is to find our families. They are there somewhere, on the other side of the wire, they need help.”

At a small desk in the park, Turkish doctors from nearby Sanliurfa have started to administer polio and measles shots to all children. “So far we have immunised 32 children,” one of the doctors says. “But we have enough vaccine for everyone.”

According to one official working for the Turkish Red Crescent, Turkey was prepared for the “worst case scenario” and a further influx of refugees from Kobani. “We are preparing to erect a tent city close to the border.”

Silva Ali, 10, grimaces as she swallows the polio vaccine administered, then sticks out her tongue. “Not good,” she says and laughs. She has just arrived in Suruç with her family, her mother Asya, 27, her grandmother Fatma, 55, and her three siblings.

“Isis fired missiles at our village,” her mother says. “They have military vehicles and so many weapons. We heard the sounds of the bombs. We just left and ran, it was very bad.”

Now they sleep in the park, unsure of where to go next. “If things get better, we will go back. But if not, I don’t know either.”