ANF spoke to Kurdish refugees who have recently moved to the western province of İzmir after fleeing their territory in Rojava which has been facing attacks by Turkey-backed al-Nusra Front militants perpetrating an inhuman treatment against the Kurdish civilians in the region.

Families tell that the al-Nusra Front has instructed its militants to kill Kurds and has been perpetrating massacre, robbery, raid and theft in the villages and neighborhoods of Amudé, Heseké and Afrin. According to the families, militants of the al Nusra front are also raping and massacring the women who do not wear a headscarf, defending that these women are sinners.

The Kurdish refugees who fled Rojava to avoid facing the same destiny with the victims of the al Nusra brutality are now suffering from critical social, cultural,economic, health and sheltering problems in İzmir.

Musa Xelef Ahmed (59), father of six, tells that his family used to live in Amudé until they fled their hometown one month ago, scared of the massacres of the jihadist armed group. “At first, massacres took place in the regions away from us but the armed militants have recently reached the areas close to us. This is why me and my family moved to İzmir”, he says.

Xelef Ahmed remarks that “A few days before our leave, al Nusra militants, who had already come closer to Amude region, bombed civilians in our neighborhood, killing eight people including women and children and my cousin as well”.

Being a Kurd is a good cause for you to get killed, Ahmed says and tells that the gang militants started to massacre elders, women and children in Kurdish neighborhoods after they announced that it was legitimate to kill Kurds.

Ahmed continues saying that; “After three times of tekbir (Islamic prayer starting with Allahuekber which means “God is the greatest one”), they rape women they consider themselves to have taken to wife. They are also massacring the women who are not wearing a headscarf. They seize and plunder the goods of the people”.

Ahmed tells that the Kurdish refugees who fled to İzmir are facing quite ill living conditions. He says he couldn't take her wife to hospital when she suffered a serious illness for six days. Ahmed says his children are also going through severe traumas since their arrival in İzmir, fearing that the war will continue there too. “We do not know what to do, we are miserable”, he adds.

Şérin Eli (19), a young woman who in the same way moved to İzmir with her husband two days ago, tells about the massacre Kurdish people suffered in the village of Wéran populated by Kurds and Arabs. “Militants of the al Nusra Front beheaded people, raped women, robbed and plundered their houses one week before we came here. In Qamişlo, they beheaded the son of my mother's cousin. We have fled to İzmir in order not to live the same things with the victims but the rest of my family is still there and I am worried about them. It hurts me to leave them behind”, she tells.

Rıdvan Xalid (46), who also fled from Afrin to İzmir together with his 16 year-old son Abdullah, tells about the attack al Nusra militants carried out against the village of Basifané, populated by Ezidi Kurds, on 16 August. “YPG (People's Defense Units) defended the village and protected the people from the armed group. Kurds cannot leave the Afrin city which has been surrounded by al Nusra militants, and there is a critical hunger problem in in the city where people can receive no aids from outside”, he says and remarks that house-owners do not rent their houses to the Kurdish refugees in İzmir. I had to leave my wife and a child of mine there, he says and calls on the Kurdish people to help the people in Rojava.