Êzidîs forced to resort to going to Europe

2015-06-30 13:24:43

DİYARBAKIR (DİHA) - Êzîdîs from Shengal living in Batman, Mardin and Diyarbakır who were sent back from Edirne border gate where they went in order to cross into Europe have returned to North Kurdistan.

Speaking about the subject, HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party) Batman MP Ali Atalan said that it was the Middle East policy of AKP that forced Êzîdî Kurds to resort to going to Europe. Atalan pointed out that the Êzîdîs sheltered in North Kurdistan started feeling unsafe after the threats and insults voiced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with Qoran in his hand in Batman.

'There is a war of religion going on'

He said that; "The background of their seek to leave must be understood well. It wouldn't be right to develop a prejudice that 'Êzîdîs are fleeing and seeking to go to Europe'. These people suffered a massacre in Shengal last year. Many of them were killed or kidnapped. The survivors, on the other hand, found shelter in various places across the world, including the North Kurdistan territory. There is a war of religion going on in the Middle East at the moment. Turkey has also become a part of this war, with the President trying to target the HDP over Zoroastrianism, with a Qoran in his hand in Batman province. It was an implicit threat in the person of me.”

Atalan remarked that this atmosphere led up to a feeling 'We have no right to live here' among the Êzîdî Kurds currently living in North Kurdistan, and a concern over their safety in these lands.

Stressing that the Êzîdîs from Shengal and the Kurdish refugees from Syria are being subjected to a different attitude and double standard, Atalan recalled that the HDP municipalities in the Kurdish region are taking care of the Êzîdî refugees without getting any support from the United Nations for the last one year.

The HDP MP for Batman, who is an Êzîdî himself, pointed out that their call to Êzîdî refugees was not to leave their lands but to resist in the face of unending efforts to sever them from Kurdistan. “They should head for Shengal, not Europe, and live in the villages in the Kurdish region if they can't manage otherwise”, he added.

(nt)