Ezidi Kurdish refugees ordered to leave Turkey camp

HDP's two Ezidi Kurdish MPs Ali Atalan and Feleknas Uca put written questions for the Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to answer regarding the refugees' case.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - Authorities at a Turkish government-run refugee camp in the Kurdish province of Mardin have recently ordered four Ezidi men from the Shingal district of the Kurdistan Region to leave, as families residing there fear an expulsion from the camp.

A refugee from the camp who declined to be named in Mardin's Midyat town told Kurdistan 24 that the reason authorities gave them for not allowing the four men stay was their lack of a residence permit.

Upon that the men, all married with kids, who until last week were back in Kurdistan Region went to central Mardin and renewed their permit.

But camp authorities continued to block their request to stay with their families, the source explained.

Although he added, they could remain at the camp only until Thursday.

Turkey's opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) took the case to the Parliament.

HDP's two Ezidi Kurdish MPs Ali Atalan and Feleknas Uca put written questions for the Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to answer regarding the refugees' case.

Uca asked Yildirim what the justification for the authorities' attitude toward the refugees was.

She also demanded to know if any mass expulsion could take place at the camp.

The Kurdistan 24 source said although they were "well taken care of," many families feared to find themselves on the street.

He said there were over 1600 people, all from Shingal, who until the beginning of this year were in another camp at the neighboring province of Diyarbakir until an Ankara government-appointed trustee to run municipal affair ordered them to leave for Mardin.

Contacted by Kurdistan 24, HDP's Atalan, a representative for Mardin criticized Turkish authorities.

"Unfortunately, the Turkish government doesn't have a humanitarian approach when it comes to the Ezidis," he said over the phone.

Atalan stated 2017 was the third anniversary of the Islamic State (IS)-perpetrated genocide in which militants massacred thousands of men and enslaved the community's women in Shingal, adding he found the Turkish policy vis a vis Ezidi refugees "unbelievable."

 

Editing by Ava Homa