DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — The Yazidi refugees who fled massacres at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq are now being forced to vacate their camp in Turkey — in the dead of winter, on short notice.

There was a lot of activity Dec. 30 at the entrance of the Fidanlik refugee camp on the Diyarbakir-Mardin highway. A group of journalists wanted to visit the camp that houses Yazidis, but guards at the gate said visits were prohibited without permission from the governor. Instead of the usual Diyarbakir municipality staff guarding the gate, Al-Monitor saw three uniformed officials of the Disaster and Emergency Affairs Department (AFAD).

Al-Monitor encountered at the entrance a Yazidi man, who said, “We are told to evacuate the camp,” before being dragged back into the camp by officials.

The camp, which had been managed by the Yenisehir municipality of Diyarbakir, has fallen victim to political maneuvering because its just-replaced mayor was from the Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP). The government has been removing elected DBP mayors and replacing them with government-assigned trustees. In Yenisehir, the local district governor was also appointed as the trustee mayor. That move changed the fate of Yazidis in the Fidanlik camp.