Tag: refugee

Letter from Kurdistan-2 “Look how my family is living”

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“Look how my family is living”

These pictures were sent to me on Wednesday evening. They were taken in Zakho, Iraq. The town, which is in the Kurdistan region, is at the border with Turkey and it is currently hosting several Yazidi families who escaped from ISIS in the Sinjar area. Thousands of them just want to leave Iraq for good. “We don’t have any future here. We are not muslim and we will always be harassed” said Fahrani over the phone from an IDP camp.

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A letter from Kurdistan: “Yazidi beaten up by security forces while demanding help”

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As previously reported, Yazidi who were able to escape from Mount Sinjar are in Kurdistan. They did not leave their problem behind and their struggle is far from over. They are actually facing a humanitarian crisis.  In the Kurdistan Region there are more than 300,000 Yazidi refugees but there is no external support. There are no camps and thousands sleep on the streets hoping to leave Iraq as soon as possible. “We are not safe here,” they claimed. The news flow from Kurdistan is slow and sporadic. There is a growing tension in cities such as Zakho and Dohuk, at the Turkish border, said Farhan a former US Army interpreter.

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“Yazidi women sold for 10 bucks” So, is it “mission accomplished?”

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While president Barack Obama declared U.S. Forces have accomplished their mission to rescue people trapped on Mount Sinjar, a group of Yazidi protested in front of the U.N. on Friday morning. About forty of them gathered in front of the HQ in New York, while a representative was inside meeting officials and asking for help. “IS [Islamic State] is still a great threat to our people,” they cried. They say the U.S. air strikes were not enough and there are at least 3,000 people trapped on top of the mountain. The situation, they claimed, is far from being resolved. United Nations officials agree with them and declared: “The situation is not over.” Many fear for women and children. The first, they claimed, are sold for 10 dollars and the second are being converted to Islam and forced to join the jihad.

“We need military and humanitarian support,” said to me Dakheel Zanadinan while holding a sign with pictures of slaughtered children. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he works for an NGO. He used to be an interpreter for US Special Forces in Iraq, he worked with them for years. Dakheel drove an entire day just to be here and protest against the U.N. lack of action. “My niece has been captured while escaping from Mount Sinjar,” he continued. She  is 10 years old and he does not know what to wish for her. If still alive, she faces violence and slavery.

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Benedetta Argentieri

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