Yazidi girl rescued during ISIS raid in Ankara

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A Yazidi girl taken captive by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 has been rescued during a raid in the Turkish capital Ankara, police said on Wednesday. 

Two foreign nationals, one of whom was said to be a senior ISIS member from Iraq, were arrested during the raid, Ankara police said on Wednesday morning. Another suspect remains at large. 

The girl, 7, was handed over to local social services, according to DHA news agency, who said the suspects had been under surveillance for some time. 

According to figures from the Yazidi Abductee Affairs Office in Duhok, more than 6,400 Yazidis were abducted when ISIS took over their heartland of Shingal in August 2014, launching a brutal genocide against the ethnoreligious minority.

Over 2,800 remain missing. 

Several Yazidi survivors have been found in Turkey in recent years. 

Two children returned from Turkey with a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation in September 2020, after a long legal battle to be reunited with their family in Iraq.

A nine-year old boy was reunited with his family in November after being taken to Turkey by a family from Tal Afar.

Syria’s al-Hol camp is also known to hold many Yazidi women and children taken captive by the terror group.  Officials believe as many as 500 Yazidis are in the camp – known for holding thousands of families with suspected links to ISIS.