Thousands of Yezidi families who were staying in camps in Şırnak and its districts have returned to their own lands after the HPG, Sinjar Resistance Units (YPŞ) and peshmerga forces liberated those villages occupied in August by the ISIS gangs.

Following the occupation of Sinjar and its districts in the Federal Kurdistan Region, thousands of Yezidi families had to flee to save themselves from being massacred. The families came to North Kurdistan after a long and difficult journey and were sheltered in camps in Şırnak, Silopi, Cizre and other cities.

HPG, YBŞ and the peshmerga forces launched joint operations against the ISIS gangs in order to liberate the lands of the Yezidis. Many of the villages around Sinjar have been liberated in recent times in these joint operations and thousands of Yezidis are going back to their lands.

Those from the Yezidi community who were staying in houses in Silopi have all already returned. While most of those staying at the camps have also returned, 160 remaining persons are preparing for the journey home. 1,500 Yezidis who were staying in Şırnak and Cizre have also turned back to their villages. For the ones still in Şırnak and Cizre, the local people are continuing to mobilize to provide aid.

Silopi co-mayor Seyfettin Aydemir, who is also on the Coordination Committee of the Silopi Camp, says 10 thousand out of 30 thousand Yezidis who are staying in Şırnak and its districts have returned, adding that the Yezidi people returned on their own initiative following the liberation of their villages by HPG, YBŞ and peshmerga forces.

Aydemir says they will continue to provide the necessary aid in order to solve any problems they are experiencing and to meet their basic needs, adding that they will always stand by the Yezidi people.