Ezidis cannot return to Sinjar due to PKK terrorism, says Turkish Consulate General in Erbil

By Busra Nur Cakmak

Ezidis cannot return to Sinjar due to PKK terrorism, the Turkish Consulate General in Erbil said on Thursday.

“We remember with deep sorrow the suffering of the Yazidi community on the anniversary of the massacre committed by the DEASH terrorist organization against Iraqi Yazidis 9 years ago,” the Consulate General said on Twitter.

“Ezidis, who were displaced from their homes due to DAESH terrorism, cannot return to Sinjar today due to PKK terrorism. Our country will continue to stand by the Ezidi community against the atrocities and threats it faces,” it added.

In an Aug. 3, 2014 attack on the Sinjar district, where Ezidis live, Daesh kidnapped and killed thousands of people, including women and children, or detained them in areas they controlled.

Approximately 300,000 people lived in Sinjar before the attacks, with two-thirds of them being Ezidis and the remaining population consisting of Sunni Kurds and Arabs.

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.

Hundreds of thousands of Ezidis, who had to flee their homes after the Daesh attack, have been living in the camps in northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) under harsh conditions.

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

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