Êzidîs that fled Shengal in an unspeakable fear after the ISIS onslaught in 2014 and took shelter in Amed are facing further persecution due to the trustee recently assigned to the Yenişehir Municipality.
The Êzidî community who faced with continued policies of genocide and annihilation throughout their history experienced yet another attempt of genocide by the ISIS in August, 2014. This genocide attempt they survived thanks to a corridor opened up by the HPG guerrillas.
Among these hundreds of thousands of Êzidîs who managed to get to Turkey and North Kurdistan after a long journey full of pain and difficulties, some migrated to Europe and some others turned back to Shengal after its liberation from ISIS by HPG, YBŞ and YJŞ forces.
The Êzidîs sheltered in North Kurdistan territory include those who were settled in a camp in Fidanlık area of the Yenişehir district municipality. During the two years in this camp, they had just recently started to leave behind the savagery they suffered amid a continued rehabilitation process.
The Êzidî people staying in this camp have now become a target for the AKP government following the seizure of the DBP-held municipalities through the imprisonment of elected Kurdish representatives and their replacement with trustees.
Efforts are being made to send these Êzidîs to the AFAD camps in Midyat and Nusaybin districts of Mardin. The already aggrieved community describes this intended transfer as 'exile'.
The state-run camps of AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency) became a topic of conversation with cases of rape and sexual abuse since the first they they were set up, and these camps mainly serve as headquarters where ISIS members are provided with shelter and training. The Êzidî people therefore do not see these camps safe for themselves.
Following the recent seizure of Amed's Yenişehir Municipality by an appointed trustee, intense security measures were taken around the camp in Fidanlık area and the municipal employees working here are since denied permission to enter the camp which is surrounded with wire fence and gendarmes deployed around, which causes psychological pressure on the Êzidîs.
The trustee threatens the Êzidîs that refuse to go to the AFAD camps in Midyat and Nusaybin that their electricity and water will be cut off, and promises to send them to Europe later on in order to make sure that they leave the camp now.
Many Êzidîs remain determined to stay in the Fidanlık camp than to settle in the AFAD camps
