By Anadolu Agency Staff

DUHOK, Iraq (AA) – The Ezidi community, living in harsh conditions in camps for eight years and unable to return to their homes due to PKK terrorists in northern Iraq's Sinjar region, say the international community has abandoned them.

"We can’t go back to our homes due to some forces (PKK) in Sinjar and the problems people are experiencing there," Saud Seydo, a resident of the Sharya Refugee Camp, told Anadolu Agency.

"International organizations give us no help going back to our homes," he added.

Seydo, another camp resident, said: "We have no income, our financial situation is not good, and we cannot return to Sinjar."

The Ezidis, are unable to return to their homes because of the terrorist group PKK, according to Suleyman Hidir, another refugee from the camp, who said that everyone wants to live in their homes if they are safe, but they cannot in the current situation.

They are afraid of returning to their houses, refugee Ali Hudada said, adding that if the Iraqi government officially declares Sinjar safe, then they can return.

In an Aug. 3, 2014 attack on the Sinjar district, where Ezidis live, Daesh/ISIS kidnapped and killed thousands of people, including women and children, or detained them in areas they hold.

Some 300,000 people lived in Sinjar before the attacks, two-thirds of them Ezidi and the rest Sunni Kurds and Arabs.

Daesh/ISIS has been active in the Iraqi provinces of Salahuddin, Anbar, Kirkuk, and Diyala, at a time when the federal government is struggling to contain attacks by the terrorist group by launching security and military operations in the country’s northern, western, and eastern regions.

In 2017, Iraq declared victory over Daesh/ISIS by reclaiming all territories the terrorist group controlled since the summer of 2014, estimated to be about one-third of the country’s territory. But the PKK terror group remains active in the region.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.