GENEVA, 23 March 2003 — Up to half a million Iraqis fled cities in the northern Kurdish areas ahead of the US-led invasion, moving their families to outlying villages, aid agencies said yesterday.
The city of Dohuk near Turkey is “almost depopulated”, and people have also poured out of the key oil hub of Kirkuk, the UN Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq said in a statement.
After pounding Baghdad with a night blitz, US and British forces made day-time air strikes yesterday and advanced on Iraq’s second city of Basra in the south.
The UN estimated there were 350,000 to 450,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the north, and movements continued.
About 90 percent are staying with relatives and do not require urgent assistance, it said. “Local authorities and UN national staff are attempting to meet the immediate needs and there are serious concerns for the health situation of those who are not appropriately sheltered.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates roughly 500,000 people have left homes in the three northern protectorates over the past 10 days, a spokesman said. “They took cars with their families and belongings, leaving for villages where they have relatives or friends. A lot of them decided early on to leave,” he said.
“The largest population movements are in the Dohuk area where an estimated 85 percent of the city (population 120,000) has moved to villages east of the city,” the UN said. “Reportedly, asylum seekers do not want to cross the Turkish border,” it added.
Meanwhile, Turkey said yesterday a massive exodus of refugees from across its border with Iraq had so far failed to materialize despite the intensity of the US-led attacks on Baghdad. “Despite an increase in the movement of refugees in northern Iraq, no exodus toward our borders has been reported,” Turkish government officials said.
The statement, released by a special crisis cell set up by Prime Minister Recep Yayyip Erdogan, added that Ankara had “taken the necessary steps to meet all contingencies”.
Turkey has said a surge of refugees fleeing the fighting in Iraq would justify military intervention by its forces across the border to help deal with them.
