Iraqi Kurdish PM visits refugee camp built by Turkey

ARBIL

Nechirvan Barzani took a tour of the AFAD-built refugee camp in Dohuk. AA Photo

Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani visited a refugee camp set up by Turkey’s disaster management agency in the northern Iraqi province of Dohuk on Sept. 21.

During the visit, Barzani and accompanying Iraqi Kurdish ministers met with Mehmet Akif İnam, the Turkish consul general in Arbil.

“Turkey has extended its helping hand, not only in the current situation but also after many disasters that we experienced in the past,” he added.

Barzani also stressed that his KRG government in Arbil had given all kinds of support to the efforts of the Turkish Prime Ministry’s Disaster and Emergency Directorate (AFAD) to build camps in northern Iraq.

AFAD has been working to accommodate displaced Iraqis fleeing advances by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists.

The rise of ISIL since early June has triggered a massive wave of internal displacement of more than a million Iraqis.