Ezidis in Iraq want terrorist group PKK to leave Sinjar so they can return home

DUHOK, Iraq (AA) - Iraqi Ezidis have been waiting to return to their homes ever since they had to leave due to Daesh/ISIS attacks in 2014 in the Sinjar district of Mosul.

They want the terrorist group PKK to leave Sinjar so they can return from camps where they lived as refugees for eight years.

The Ezidis from Sinjar, who have been staying in tents at refugee camps in Duhok, told Anadolu Agency that they could not return to their homes due the presence of the terrorist PKK in the district.

The situation in Sinjar is very complicated and there is no security, said camp resident Halil Resho.

He said that they stayed in canvas tents in the camp at Duhok and that one burns every day. Everyone in the tent has a relative who was kidnapped or killed by Daesh/ISIS, he added.

Ali Goro from Sinjar, also staying at a camp in Duhok, said that those in Mosul returned to their homes, but no one helped them to return.

Goro said the people of Sinjar cannot return to their homes due to the presence in the region of the PKK and Hashd al-Shaabi militia (popular mobilization forces).

He said that even if they dared to return under these conditions, there is no infrastructure, water, electricity, school, or hospital.

"So it’s better for us to stay in tents than return," he said.

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

Some 300,000 people lived in Sinjar before the attacks, two-thirds of them Ezidis and the rest Sunni Kurds and Arabs.

Daesh/ISIS has been active in the Iraqi provinces of Salahuddin, Anbar, Kirkuk, and Diyala, at a time when the federal government is struggling to contain attacks by the terrorist group by launching security and military operations in the country’s northern, western, and eastern regions.

In 2017, Iraq declared victory over Daesh/ISIS by reclaiming all territories the terrorist group controlled since the summer of 2014, estimated to be about one-third of the country’s territory.

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 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.