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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian Kurds suffer in beseiged Rojava |
| 2016-05-19 |
| [ARA News] SERE KANIYE – Amid the ongoing Syrian war, life conditions have been deteriorating in Rojava, including in the Hasakah province. Prices of basic daily supplies and materials have dramatically increased, making life for civilians more difficult and movement at the markets is never like before. People who insisted to stay in Syria’s Kurdish region [Rojava] despite the mounting violence are encountering hard living conditions, locals told ARA News. “The prices are now very high and the roads of transport became very difficult and insecure, that’s why 1kg tomato now costs 450SP, potatoo 400SP and cucumber 400SP. People are poor and the living conditions in the region became unbearable,” says Hikmat, owner of a vegetable store in Sere Kanye city of Hasakah province. “The main reasons for the increasing prices of food supplies include the scarcity of safe routes to import those goods. In Damascus 1kg tomato is 150SP while here it reaches 450SP. May God help our people,” Hikmat added. According to economists and observers, the main reason for the increasing prices is the closure of the Semalka crossing on the border between Rojava (Syrian Kurdish region) and Iraqi Kurdistan, beside the mounting expenses of transportation within Syria and the decreasing rates of the Syrian pound in exchange for foreign currencies. Mustafa Mayim, a citizen of Hasakah, told ARA News that the Syrian pound (Lira) has been dramatically decreasing. “We need authorities of the region to ease this siege on our people. Somalia crossing should reopen to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Rojava, and the local authorities of the Auto-Administration should rather assist the people instead of imposing more taxes on the scarcely imported goods,” Mayim said. “For instance sugar is nonexistent in our areas at the moment, and once it’s available the price of 1kg exceeds 1000SP.” It is expected that the [Kurdish-led] Auto-Administration [that governs Rojava] would try to rely on local production. However, the fear remains that the citizens would still suffer the lack of basic supplies and constantly increasing prices at the local markets. |
| Posted by:badanov |