Xidir Xelef, one of the Êzidîs who managed to escape the massacre by barbaric ISIS gangs, lost his life after being transferred to the AFAD camp in Midyat when the Fidanlık camp in Amed was evacuated following the appointment of a trustee to DBP’s Yenişehir Municipality. Xidir Xelef lost his life on January 11. His dying wish was to be buried in Shengal, so his son Rizgan Xidir wanted to take his father’s body and cross over to the Iraqi Federal Kurdistan Region along with his mother, wife and daughter. But the family wasn’t allowed through the border gate, citing “they don’t have passports” as an excuse. The policemen at the border gate said they will let the body through, but the family won’t be allowed.

FAMILY KEPT FROM TAKING THE BODY

Xelef’s son Rixgan Xidir then called their relatives in Federal Kurdistan Region. Their relatives came from Duhok and took the body in an ambulance to Shengal to be buried in the holy Shebhul Kasım area. The family couldn’t attend the funeral because they weren’t allowed to cross the border, so they returned to the camp in Midyat and set up mourning for 3 days.

Xidir said the treatment they were subjected to is tyranny and that the conditions were very harsh in the Midyat camp.

Trustee District Governor Mehmet Güzel doesn’t want the Êzidîs, and has recently sent them from the Fidanlık camp in Amed where they lived in for 3 years to the AFAD camp in Mardin's Midyat district. The Êzidîs don’t have legal status, therefore can’t access health services either.