In countries far away from the horrors and misery that the peoples of Iraq and Syria are experiencing, public indifference can be attributed to ignorance or even compassion fatigue.
In a world weary of violence, others may take their time to wake up to fact that a humanitarian disaster is unfolding in the mountains of northwest Iraq, but Turkey next door cannot afford to do the same.
Having ethnically-cleansed the 2000 year long Christian inhabitants of the land without much protest from the outside world, the Sunni extremist’s self-declared Islamic State is now destroying the Yezidis of Iraq through slaughter, rape and starvation.
An ancient religious minority in Iraq and modern Turkey, originating in Sumeria and Assyria, Yezidism is much older than Islam and Christianity. Today, their numbers are estimated to be between 300 thousand and 700 thousand, with a small diaspora community in northern Germany. Having survived discrimination and marginalization over 6 thousand years, they are about to be wiped out by the jihadi extremist ISIS.
The Yezidi population in Sinjar, between Mosul and Syrian border has been under attack by ISIS since June. More than a month ago, Amnesty International drew attention to their plight along with ISIS attacks on other minority communities including Turkmen and Shabak Shi’a, Yezidi and Christians but very few have taken any notice. As one Yezidi member of the Iraqi Parliament Feyyan Dahil described it in an emotional speech, during the last four days ISIS has already killed 500 people and abducted 500 Yezidi women as sex slaves.
According to the UN, at least 40 thousand Yezidis, many of them women and children have fled to the mountains nearby. There, they face starvation and death due to having no access to water. Around 130 thousand people have taken refuge in Dohuk or Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. Thousands of them have already crossed the Habur border post into Turkey.
Turks who took to street in their thousands protesting Israel’s attacks on Gaza do not seem to be moved by the plight of Iraq’s minorities. Apart from a handful of small gatherings in Istanbul and in the south east, the public seem to turn a blind eye to what is going on next door.
Politicians, too, have been making scarce and generalized comments. Announcing the details of a further humanitarian aid to Gaza and to evacuate potentially thousands of injured Palestinians for treatment to Turkey, Foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Reuters that the turmoil in Iraq was another threat to regional stability and Turkey would take all necessary measures to keep stability around its borders.
Davutoglu again put the blame squarely on sectarian policies adopted by previous Iraqi and Syrian administrations for the radicalization we witness today.
Salih Muslim, the co-chairman of the Syrian Kurdish organization, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), told the independent news network Bianet that it has now become obvious that ISIS is getting out of control; yet Turkey does not seem to be prepared to take a firm stand.
“If Turkey has other plans, it should wake up. These people can destroy the peoples and histories of a thousand year-old land. Turkey is under threat, too. Turkey should be the first one to stand against it.” Muslim said.
Sebahat Tuncel , the Istanbul deputy of the People’s Democracy Party (HDP) has also warned against Turkey’s inaction against ISIS. In a press conference at the Turkish Parliament, Tuncel expressed growing concern about ISIS becoming a major force in the Middle East; first going on a killing spree in Mosul and now in Sinjar where Yezidis live. Criticizing the Turkish government’s Turkmen-centric nationalist policies, Ms Tuncel called the Parliament to meet in an emergency session to discuss how to stop ISIS’ growing control and violence in the Middle East.
With 49 of its citizens held hostage by ISIS since June 11, the government in Turkey actively encourages indifference on what goes on in Iraq. With a news blackout in place, there is little reporting of the developments in Iraq. Prime Minister Erdogan again accused the main opposition party for putting the lives of 49 Turkish hostages at risk by raising the issue.
However, it is not just the leader of the opposition who claims the government is not doing enough to free the hostages. A relative of three of the hostages kept by ISIS, together with an opposition deputy have filed a criminal complaint against the Prime Minister, the Foreign minister and a senior civil servant at the Foreign Ministry, alleging ,malpractice and neglect.
With ISIS militants threatening to take control of the dams on the river Euphrates with the possibility of flooding downstream or cutting water off from communities, as recently reported by the BBC’s Jiyar Gol, the dangers facing the people of Iraq are grave, indeed.
Their only hope is the Kurdish guerrillas, including the PKK joining forces to protect them.
Ass well as being directly threatened by the immediate crisis in Iraq, Turkey may also have to pay the price of its unwise policies for many years to come.
Even if the Turkish voters decide to overlook them when they go to the ballot box on 10 August to re-elect and elevate the leader most responsible…
This post is also available in: Turkish
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