29-03-2024 12:49 AM Jerusalem Timing

Ankara Announces Hundreds of Yazidis Fled Iraq to Turkey

Ankara Announces Hundreds of Yazidis Fled Iraq to Turkey

Hundreds of people from Iraq’s Yazidi community have fled to Turkey after ISIL terrorists took over large swathes of territory in northern Iraq, Turkish officials said on Thursday

Hundreds of people from Iraq's Yazidi community have fled to Turkey after ISIL terrorists took over large swathes of territory in northern Iraq, Turkish officials said on Thursday.
  
terrorists in IraqAn attack by the so-called newly named Islamic State (IS) terrorist group at the weekend sparked a mass exodus from the northern part of Iraq including the town of Sinjar, where most of the population is made up of the Yazidi minority.
  
A Turkish foreign ministry official described the flight as a "human tragedy". "It is not possible for Turkey to remain indifferent to this. We will fulfill our responsibility," the official told AFP.
  
Another government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said hundreds of Yazidis had entered Turkey since Wednesday. "They have been accommodated by the local authorities in a housing complex for earthquake victims in the town of Silopi near the Iraqi border," the official told AFP.
  
The Yazidi are a closed community that follows an ancient faith rooted in Zoroastrianism and are referred to by IS terrorists as "devil worshippers".