Neue Zahlen: Mehr als 120.000 Jesiden haben Irak seit 2014 verlassen
![](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-06/khabatoo.jpg?itok=vRSRdM-Q)
Kharbatoo I Camp für Jesiden bei Dohuk, Bild: Thomas von der Osten-Sacken
Mehr als 120.000 Jesidinnen und Jesiden sind laut offiziellen Zahlen der kurdischen Regionalregierung den Irak seit 2014 verlassen.
Die realen Zahlen könnten noch weit höher liegen, denn Zukunftsperspektive im Irak haben die Opfer des Völkermordes durch den IS 2014 keine. Noch immer leben Hunderttausende in überfüllten Lagern in der kurdischen Provinz Dohuk, während ihre Heimat, der Sinjar, ein zwischen Zentralregierung, kurdischer Autonomiebehörde, PKK und Türkei umkämpftes Gebiet ist, in dem Sicherheit nicht gewährleistet ist:
Poverty, instability, and unemployment have driven more than 120,000 Yazidis to take illegal and dangerous routes to Europe ever since 2014, following the brutal genocide campaign committed at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the Yazidi affairs office in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Esiyan village is one of the areas that has seen a massive share of the influx of Yazidi migration abroad.
Half of the residents of the Esiyan village, located in Sheikhan town, have left their areas in the course of the past few years and immigration from Iraq is a hot topic among the remaining villagers.
Sheikhan is a predominantly Yazidi town that is less than 50 kilometers in northern Nineveh province.
"According to a census in 2014, there were 800 registered individuals. The number has now dropped to only 390 and the rest have migrated abroad," said Haytham Hassan, a teacher in the village.
Scores of people, mainly youth, from across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq take to smuggling routes on a daily basis out of desperation, in hopes of escaping the endless crises in the country, including the lack of employment, political instability, and corruption.