Kurdish MP in Turkey: Erdogan's words on Ezidis 'a threat'

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HPD) member declared on Sunday Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent remarks on Ezidi refugees are “unacceptable threats.”

In a phone call with Kurdistan24, the Ezidi MP Ali Atalan of the Mardin Province stated Ezidis were the community that suffered most at the hands of the Islamic State (IS) militants.

“[Erdogan’s] words are a threat. This is a dangerous rhetoric. A genocide befell [the] Ezidis. Their issue should not even be politicized,” stressed Atalan.

Erdogan had on Saturday accused the Kurdish religious minority of Ezidis in Turkey and Iraq of “getting involved in some wrong games.”

Talking about an anticipated operation to capture the Iraqi city of Mosul from IS, Erdogan made a stern warning directed at Ezidis who have found sanctuary in camps in Turkey.

“Ezidis, look. Do not cooperate with terrorists. Right now in my country, we are feeding this many Ezidis in camps. We opened our doors for you. We did not discriminate,” said Erdogan.

Erdogan was referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-affiliated armed Ezidi groups in the Kurdistan Region, including the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) that is fighting IS.

“These games will not benefit, but rather harm you I must say,” added the Turkish President who was speaking to a public gathering in his hometown of Rize in northern Turkey.

There are more than 5,000 Ezidis who fled to refugee camps in the Kurdish provinces of Mardin, Diyarbakir, and Batman after IS overran the town of Shingal in the Kurdistan Region in 2014.

Moreover, the insurgents massacred 4,000 men and enslaved women as spoils of war.

In response, Atalan said, “Erdogan is telling us that Ezidis don’t have a right to protect themselves against the IS and that they must show some gratitude to Turkey which still has not given them the refugee status.”

“This is not the first time [Erdogan] has talked this way,” complained the HDP Parliamentarian. 

“There are about 60 to 70 thousand Ezidis of Turkish citizenship, a majority of them now also German nationals because of such discriminatory rhetoric and practices,” he explained.

In 2012, Erdogan had said the PKK fighters were “Zoroastrian terrorists who were talking about Ezidism.”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany