Since the Islamic State (Isis) attack on Kobane, the Kurdish town on the border of Syria and Turkey, the heroic defence by the YPG and the women’s YPJ has inspired people throughout the world.

The focus has been on the battle to repel Isis but at the same time a humanitarian crisis has developed on the Turkish side of the border as over 200,000 refugees have fled Kobane.

The response from the Turkish state has been to establish two refugee camps for around 6,100 people.

Meanwhile thousands of others have had to rely on the generosity of the local municipalities, run mostly by Kurdish political parties and the local Kurdish populations.

There are now 170,000 refugees living in camps across south-east Turkey, or north Kurdistan, according to crisis organiser for the Suruc municipality Serat Tum.

This is in addition to the Yazidi and other refugees who had already fled from the Isis attacks and threatened genocide in Syria and Iraq.

The municipality representatives say that they have sought assistance from the Turkish government but so far they have received no support.

International aid agencies have been blocked by the Turkish government from offering support, leaving the issue of providing tents, electricity and food to these thousands of people to the local authorities, volunteers and local people.

Former German MEP Feleknaz Uca, who is now working in Suruc helping to co-ordinate assistance, reports: “EU money to assist with the refugee problems has gone only to the state camps. The others got nothing. I will be writing to the the EU asking them to investigate and make sure money is available for all camps.”

Our delegation of two from Scotland and three from England on behalf of Peace in Kurdistan is investigating how the municipalities are coping and how the people of Kobane are determined to defend themselves against Isis attacks and are appealing for aid from all countries.

On the outskirts of Diyarbakir in south-east Turkey 4,000 Yazidis from the Sinjar province of Iraq are living in tents as temperatures dip close to zero. Kurdish volunteers organise food and medical assistance while the Yazidis fear the onset of winter.

Hasan Khudaida, from the village of Hutien in Sinjar, told me how his sister had been kidnapped by Isis and he and his family had fled to the mountains.

“We had to flee because these monsters would kill us because of our religion,” he said.

Hasan, a biology teacher, and his family fled to the mountains and were led to safety by the Kurdish fighters from Rojava in Syria, the YPG, and helped to cross the Turkish border to safety. From there they were transported to the refugee camp set up just 10 weeks ago.

In Diyarbakir, co-mayor Firat Anli explained that the municipalities in northern Kurdistan had worked together to support the Yazidis and had established nine camps across the region but that the Turkish government had failed to fund them.

He said the burden had therefore fell on the local councils and the local people to raise funds and donate blankets for the refugees.

He said: “Our municipality is not rich but we support these people for humanitarian reasons. Where people had two blankets they donated one.

“If these people had been Sunni the Turkish government would have given more aid. We are appealing to the international community for help in looking after these people.”

In the camp set up in a recreation and sports park, local Kurdish volunteers told me that of the 830 tents erected only 100 came from the government and the rest had to be provided locally.

Plans to erect accommodation more suitable for the winter had to be shelved when the attack on Kobane started and hundreds of thousands of refugees flooded into the region.

The local Kurds are preparing plans to look after the Yazidis for some years until they are able to go home but the refugees have different thoughts.

“We cannot ever go back. The Islamists will kill us. The people here, the Kurds, have been good to us but they cannot look after us,” said Hassan. “We are looking to Europe to help us.”

As I left the camp, he said: “Europe must help us. We cannot go home and we cannot stay here.”

Stephen Smellie was part of a five-person delegation to Kurdistan organised by Peace in Kurdistan.