Hungarian MEP sees Iraq’s Yazidis in danger of annihilation

Budapest (MTI) – Iraq’s Christian Yazidi minority is endangered by “dispersion” or annihilation, Hungarian MEP György Hölvényi said after visiting three Christian villages near Mosul.

The community is “in a particularly bad shape”, he said, noting that Iraqi Yazidis had numbered 1.5 million before the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and 300,000 to 400,000 a year or two ago but by now they have dwindled to 70,000-80,000.

Hölvényi, who co-chairs the EPP’s working group for interreligious dialogue in the European Parliament, told a press conference on Monday that the situation is “fragile”. Altogether 2 million Muslims and Christians have fled the region and they have no hope returning to their homes as long as Mosul is not retaken from the Islamic State terrorist organisation, he said. Quoting local military commanders, he added that the city was facing a protracted siege.

During his visit, Hölvényi met the prime minister and the foreign minister of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Source: MTI