Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the welfare of the Kurdish people in Syria, Turkey and Iraq.

Kurdish people in Syria have suffered during the conflict, alongside much of the country's population, including through the brutality of both the Assad regime and terrorist groups like Daesh. As such Syrian Kurds have been amongst the recipients of UK aid in our largest ever response to a humanitarian crisis (£2.4 billion since the start of the crisis). UK funding is distributed on the basis of need, to ensure civilians are not discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, or ethnicity. In the same way, our policy position is that a transition away from the Assad regime to a government that can protect the rights of all Syrians, unite the country and end the conflict is necessary to protect all minority groups: we continue to use all of our diplomatic levers to advocate for this.

All communities in Iraq have also suffered at the hands of Daesh. We are committed to ensuring that the Kurds in Iraq can look forward to a brighter future within a stable, democratic and unified Iraq. One that can provide the security, jobs, healthcare and education that all Iraqis want and deserve, including the Kurds. The Department for International Development has provided £209.5 million in life-saving humanitarian aid to Iraq since June 2014, which has helped to support internally displaced people across Iraq, including those hosted in the Kurdistan region.

We are concerned by ongoing violence and reports of civilian casualties in South Eastern Turkey where a significant proportion of the Kurdish community live, and a worsening humanitarian situation in that region. We urge the Turkish state to treat all of its citizens equally, regardless of ethnicity or faith. We regularly urge the Turkish authorities to respect human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, and to support the rule of law. We will continue to monitor these issues closely.