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Turkey: A New Home

September 16, 2014

Tens of thousands of Yazidis are fleeing Iraq due to attacks by ISM. Many are heading for Turkey, to return to villages their ethno-religious community was once forced to leave and which, until recently, lay abandoned.

https://p.dw.com/p/1DCpQ
Irak Jesiden auf der Flucht Grenzbrücke
Image: Reuters
Flüchtlinge in Nordirak 23.08.2014 Sinjar
Image: Reuters

Large numbers of Yazidis are flocking to the village of Kiwex in southeastern Turkey. With the assistance of Germany's Yazidi community, it is hoped up to 1,000 people should be able to find new homes here. The village's former residents were once driven out by the Turkish military, and many now live in Germany. Their old houses are now falling apart, but most of the current refugees are just happy to have a roof over their heads. Otherwise they'll have to return to the refugee camps on the border with Syria and Iraq.