Three Yezidi children rescued in Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey – Three Yezidi children who were abducted by ISIS have been rescued and sent back to Iraq, the Iraqi embassy in Ankara stated.
The three were living in Turkey with a Syrian family who had helped the children, the embassy stated.
Ranging between the ages of five and seven, they spoke little Kurdish when interviewed by Rudaw at the embassy, but appeared to have good knowledge of Turkish.
Ali Atalan, a Yezidi member of the Turkish parliament from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), visited the children in the embassy.
He said he was shocked to see they have almost no knowledge about who they are.
“It is a big tragedy. It is very difficult to define it,” Atalan said.
“You see they have become mute, they have lost their native language. They cannot speak their language. They may not even know their parents anymore. They do not know who they are, or where they come from.”
The children were given into the custody of a Yezidi religious leader in Turkey to accompany them back to their relatives in the Kurdistan Region, through Baghdad airport.
Nearly half of the Yezidis abducted by ISIS in August 2014 from Shingal and its surrounding areas are still being held captive or their fates remain unknown, according to the latest data released by the KRG’s ministry of religious affairs.
The three were living in Turkey with a Syrian family who had helped the children, the embassy stated.
Ranging between the ages of five and seven, they spoke little Kurdish when interviewed by Rudaw at the embassy, but appeared to have good knowledge of Turkish.
Ali Atalan, a Yezidi member of the Turkish parliament from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), visited the children in the embassy.
He said he was shocked to see they have almost no knowledge about who they are.
“It is a big tragedy. It is very difficult to define it,” Atalan said.
“You see they have become mute, they have lost their native language. They cannot speak their language. They may not even know their parents anymore. They do not know who they are, or where they come from.”
The children were given into the custody of a Yezidi religious leader in Turkey to accompany them back to their relatives in the Kurdistan Region, through Baghdad airport.
Nearly half of the Yezidis abducted by ISIS in August 2014 from Shingal and its surrounding areas are still being held captive or their fates remain unknown, according to the latest data released by the KRG’s ministry of religious affairs.