Ezidis set to return home in southeastern Türkiye as peace ensured

By Ekrem Payan

SIRNAK, Türkiye (AA) – Several Ezidi families are planning to return to their hometown in southeastern Türkiye years after they were forced to leave home due to the terrorists PKK attacks during the 1990s.

As part of the Turkish Interior Ministry’s “Return to the Village Project,” the provincial governor’s office in Sirnak and the Idil district office contacted the former residents of a Magara village in the region, which had 130 households.

Most villagers are now living in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and Turkish officials invited them to return to their villages now in peace.

In the first phase of the project, five families living in Germany decided to return to their villages. Local authorities have started work for the construction of roads, electricity, drinking water, and sewer lines in the village.

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

Estimates put the total Ezidi population across the world at approximately 700,000 people. They are concentrated in northern Iraq, but also live in countries like Syria and Türkiye.

A Kurdish religious minority group Ezidis believe in God and seven angels, the leader of which is named Malak Tawous or Peacock Angel. Their religion – which is thought to have been founded in the 11th century – fuses Zoroastrian, Manichaean, Jewish, Nestorian Christian, and Islamic elements.

- About 30 families are preparing to return

The Ezidis who returned to the Magara village also started to repair their houses, which they had to leave years ago.

Nusrettin Genc, 67, a father to eight children and is living in Germany, told Anadolu Agency that they had to immigrate due to the terrorist attacks in 1992.

Genc said he came to the village after he was informed about the “Return to the Village Project” and began repairing his house.

“Our villagers want to return to Magara. We are hopeful, the villagers were very happy. They are determined to return to the village thanks to this project,” he added.

Genc said the people who had been living in the village immigrated to Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands years ago.

“The number of those families currently in Germany alone has grown to 800 in 30 years. Maybe not all of them will come back, but the older people who have seen this place like us and lived in the village in the past will want to come,” he added.

“About 30 families that I have spoken are making preparations, they will restore their houses and return,” Genc further said.

“This project has been good for all of us,” he said. “The governorship will provide services such as water, electricity, sewer lines, park, and install a solar energy system. There is peace now, we are satisfied.”

“My wife and I want to spend the rest of our lives in our village,” he added.

- ‘Nothing like one’s own land’

Another villager returning from Germany was Hazal Gurtis who left Türkiye with one child and returned as a mother of seven.

Gurtis said she was excited to return to the village as they already started to repair their houses in preparation to settle in their hometown with the support of the local authorities.

“There is nothing like one’s own land. In 1992, we were the first family who left and we are the first to return to the village,” she said.

“We are restoring our house. We trust our state. I hope we will all live in our village with our relatives again. We are very happy to return to the village after many years. We want to spend our life in our village,” she added.

Abdulcelil Yildirim, a stonemason who came from neighboring Midyat district of Mardin province to work on the repairing of the houses, said they lived together with the Ezidis for years. Yildirim said he was pleased that the families were returning to the country and their villages.

- ‘Model village for Türkiye’

Hazim Ucun, the provincial director of culture and tourism in Sirnak, said the Magara is the only Ezidi village in the city that had to be abandoned due to terrorism.

The village, he said, got its name from the caves (magara) under the houses, and that some houses have living spaces under them. “After the 1940s, the caves surfaced and houses were built,” he added.

“The construction of the village road was started by our governor’s office. Then the water, sewerage and electricity lines will start to be built,” he added.

They expect all Ezidis to live freely in the village, Ucun said, as the majority of families want to return to the village.

According to Ucun, the region will most likely to open to tourism. “With the establishment of peace, tourist convoys have been visiting the village for the last 3-4 years even though it is empty.

“We aim to attract tourists to the region by boosting the potential. This is a village with a high tourism potential with its historical and natural structures,” he said.

“I hope it will become one of Türkiye’s exemplary villages in the coming years,” he added.