ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Yezidi activists are calling on the international community to end Turkey’s military operation against Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria.
If the war continues, it could lead to the destruction of the Yezidi community in Syria, a group of Yezidi activists, politicians, journalists and other community leaders said in a press release.
“The current events in NE Syria, if not halted, will annihilate Yazidis from their ancestral homeland in Syria, which will effect historical presence of Yazidi in the Middle East, particularly their ancestral homeland in Iraq and Syria,” the letter read.
The letter was sent to Rudaw English by Murad Ismael, who leads the major Yezidi advocacy organization Yazda.
Operation Peace Spring, as Turkey calls its invasion into Northern Syria, started on October 9 with the stated aim of clearing the border of the Kurdish group the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and settling up to 3,000,000 Syrian refugees currently in Turkey in the area, which Kurds say amounts to an ethnic cleansing campaign by Kurds.
The fighting has displaced nearly 300,000 people, and killed above 70 civilians.
Among the displaced are the Yezidis, an ethno-religious minority group living in northeast Syria as well as Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region. Due to their non-Islamic religious beliefs, the group faced a genocidal campaign by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, where thousands of men were killed on spot, women sexually enslaved, and children brainwashed in training camps.
In the letter addressed to the international community,the group of Yezidi community representatives including Yezidi members of the Iraqi, Turkish and Armenian parliaments, urged the world to step in to halt Turkey’s invasion and for Yezidis to be included in Syrian politics.
“We call on the international community to take all necessary measures to halt all military operations in NE (Northeast) Syria,” said the Yezidi representatives. “We also call for a political process in Syria that will ensure sustainable peace for all people of Syria, and that ethnical and religious components of Syria to be considered as an important factor in determining future of Syria, include of Yazidis.”
This Turkish invasion of northern Syria is the third. It is preceded by the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations, which saw the enclave of Afrin come under the control of Turkey and its Syrian rebel allies.
Turkey considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey which has fought Ankara for decades.
These Turkish-backed groups are accused of committing crimes against the local population there.
The Yezidi representatives said that 17 of their temples and religious sites were destroyed in Afrin in the letter.
Yezidis, who are still traumatized by ISIS, are also fearful of imprisoned ISIS members and their families going free, added the leaders.
Ain Issa camp, which houses families of ISIS members, saw large scale escapes by residents following the Turkish operation.
Kurdish-led forces are currently withdrawing from some areas following a US-brokered truce, although both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire.
