IDMC : Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre | Countries | Moldova | Republic of Moldova: Uncertainty about the integration of displaced from the Transdniestrian region

Following its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova - one of the poorest countries in Europe - faced its own internal secessionist uprising as the Russian and Ukrainian population in the Transdniestrian region sought independence. The armed conflict internally displaced up to 51,000 people and forced up to 80,000 people to seek refuge in third countries, mainly in neighbouring Ukraine. A ceasefire signed in July 1992 enabled large numbers of the IDPs and most refugees to return home, although the hostility of the secessionist regime in the Transdniestrian region towards those who do not support its separatist line has endangered the integration of returnees. According to governmental sources, up to 25,000 IDPs were still displaced from the Transdniestrian region in 2003, although authorities have been unable to document this figure. In contrast, there were only 1,000 IDPs of concern to UNHCR at the end of 2002. It is unknown whether those who have not returned to the Transdniestrian region have voluntary resettled durably in Moldova proper or whether they still have the intention to return. The Moldovan government needs to make a proper assessment of the situation of those displaced from the Transdniestrian region, in particular with regard to their preferred solution. The Transdniestrian authorities, for their part, must uphold the right of IDPs to return by ending all discrimination against the Moldovan community and providing conditions of safety and dignity to returnees.

Remember Palestinian camps, people that was born in camps... A very worrying scenario...

Regarding Turkey, it's one of those areas with specially controverted figures. Here we are talking of Kurds.

I copy from IDMC webpage the information on the last "displacement danger" situation that they undeline there, in 2007:

"Turkey's internally displaced people (IDPs) face uncertain prospects as a recent upsurge in violence in the south-eastern provinces threatens to undermine the positive impact of major human rights reforms which have been adopted since Turkey became a candidate for EU membership in 1999. Clashes between the Turkish army and Kurdish militants have raised fears of a return to the high levels of violence that led to the internal displacement of about one million people, most of them Kurds, at the height of the conflict in Turkey's south-east in the 1980s and 1990s. The government declared "security zones" in pockets of the south-east in June 2007 and the Turkish armed forces have talked of the need for an incursion into northern Iraq to tackle Kurdish rebels amid mounting tensions on the Turkey-Iraq border.

However, in the last three years, the government has made strides to address the internal displacement situation. It has undertaken a national survey on the number and conditions of IDPs; drafted a national IDP strategy; adopted a law on compensation for property damages; and put together a comprehensive pilot plan of action for IDPs at the provincial level. The long-awaited results of the government-commissioned national IDP survey were released in December 2006, confirming that the number of IDPs in Turkey is significantly higher than the previous government estimate of 355,807."

In fact, it was around a million...

"The government funded a survey conducted by Hacettepe University, which is aimed at documenting the situation of IDPs from a qualitative perspective as well as providing insight through quantitative research on the estimated numbers of displaced. The findings of the survey were publicly released on 7 December 2006, and estimate that 953,680- 1,201,200 people were displaced by conflict in the south east between 1986-2005."

"If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none." (Fahrenheit 451)