Sharia camp in Duhok. Photo: Rudaw
SHARIA CAMP, Kurdistan Region - Poverty, instability, and unemployment have driven a large number of Yazidis to take illegal and dangerous routes to Europe in recent months, members of the community told Rudaw on Friday.
Zidane Khalaf, 18, and his friend Wisam Mishko, 17, spent eight years at Duhok’s Sharia camp without having a proper job, and access to clean water and electricity. To them, there was no glimmer of hope to return to the Yazidi heartland of Shingal as it was controlled by a myriad of armed groups.
Mishko and Khalaf packed their stuff, and prepared to leave for Turkey, then to Greece, and from there to western European countries.
"The situation is unstable [at the camp]. We have been living in a camp for eight years now," Khalaf told Rudaw's Naif Ramadhan before crossing to Turkey. "There is no electricity and our water is contaminated."
He added that the presence of multiple armed groups in Shingal is a major push behind their migration.
There are currently more than a hundred Yazidis stranded in Greece with the numbers keep getting higher.
A group of 150 Yazidis from Shingal have been stranded outside refugee camps in Greece for nearly a week now as Greek authorities have denied them access to camps and the right to return to their homeland.
Greece is a key route used by refugees and migrants as an entry point into the European Union.
The lack of job opportunities and security are the main reasons driving civilians to leave Shingal, a Yazidi migrant stuck in Greek territories said.
A total of 4,377 Yazidis have migrated out of Shingal and Duhok camps since August, Sherzad Pirmusa, head of the Duhok-based Alind Organization for Youth Democratization said on Thursday.
Scores of people, mainly youth, from across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq take to smuggling routes on a daily basis out of desperation, in hopes of escaping the endless crises in the country, including the lack of employment, political instability, and corruption.
Murad Ismael, president of the Sinjar Academy, drew attention to the increasing rate of migration out of Shingal indicated by civilians selling their properties to afford the process. He advised the people not to sell their real estate, saying "this is the land of your ancestors and fathers, and you must keep it wherever you go."
Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis fled their homes in the summer of 2014 when the Islamic State (ISIS) seized control of their homeland, seeking shelter on Mount Shingal, and then in the Kurdistan Region with a limited number resettled in Europe and North America.
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