CORRECTION - Driven Out Of Their Homes By PKK, Ezidis Decry Silence Of Int'l Community

Ezidi community who could not return to their homes due to the PKK presence in northern Iraq's Sinjar region have been struggling to survive in the camps in Duhok, a city in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) area.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ezidis from Sinjar decried the indifference of the international community to the difficulties they have faced so far due to the oppression by the PKK terror group.

Ezidis, who had to flee their homes after the Daesh/ISIS terror group carried out an attack on the Sinjar district of Mosul in 2014, have been living in camps under harsh conditions for eight years.

After being driven out of their homes by the PKK, a vast majority of the community dwells in tents, despite unfavorable weather conditions in the summer and winter.

Ezidis await the implementation of the 2020 Sinjar Agreement, with one of the main objectives being the elimination of PKK terrorists in the region.

In October 2020, the Iraqi federal government and KRG in northern Iraq signed an agreement to preserve security in Sinjar by the Iraqi federal security forces in coordination with the KRG Peshmerga forces.

Ezidis called on international institutions to help them end their nomadic life and create suitable conditions for them to return to their hometowns.

Emin Bahri Ibrahim, who took refuge in the Sharya Refugee Camp in Duhok, said he had to leave his home in Sinjar twice over the past seven years.

"We have been calling out to the world since 2014, but no one hears our voices. We expect conditions to improve in Sinjar and for illegal groups (PKK) to leave our city. That's how we can go back," Ibrahim told Anadolu Agency.

"The superpowers in the world and human rights organizations are not interested in our problems. Ezidis have been exposed to persecution, but the international community and the Iraqi government did not take care of us," said Faisal Osman Resho, another Ezidi from Sinjar.

Resho accused the UN, human rights organizations, the Iraqi government, and other institutions of remaining indifferent to the problems of Ezidis, saying: "Our situation couldn't be worse than this."

He called on the Iraqi parliament to hold a special session on the situation of Ezidis and find an immediate solution to their problems.

How did terrorist PKK gain a foothold in Sinjar?

Daesh/ISIS terrorists attacked Sinjar, a region with an Ezidi-majority population, in August 2014.

The terror group kidnapped and killed thousands of people, including women and children, or detained them in areas under its control.

The PKK terrorist organization managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in 2014 under the pretext of protecting the Ezidi community from Daesh/ISIS terrorists.

Sinjar has a strategic position as it is some 120 kilometers (74 miles) from Mosul and close to the Turkish-Syrian border.

The terror group aims to create a corridor between the YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria and Iraq's northern Qandil region.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara -