Having run the gauntlet of invasion, combat, killings and enslavement by Islamic State jihadists in Iraq, the members of the Yazidi religious minority have found temporary shelter in the largely agricultural region of Serres in northern Greece
Fleeing from prosecution
Greece’s policy is to move eligible refugees from overcrowded island camps—where they undergo identity checks upon arrival from Turkey—to the mainland, where more comfortable accommodation is available in better camps, UN-funded flats and hotels. But the Yazidis, who have already faced an ordeal keeping their dwindling community together thus far, oppose this policy, AFP says
Clash between Arabs and Yazidis in Greece
This is partly down to fear of other communities. Earlier this year, a Yazidi celebration in Kilkis, another part of northern Greece, descended into violence between Arabs and Yazidis. Since then, they have frustrated the Greek government’s attempts to bring in non-Yazidis. They recently blocked the transfer of 60 Catholic Congolese and Senegalese mothers and their kids to the Serres camp, an official said
A 4000-year-old faith
Rooted in Zoroastrianism, the Yazidis adhere to a faith that emerged in Mesopotamia more than 4,000 years ago but that has over time integrated elements of Islam and Christianity. Of the world’s 1.5 million Yazidis, about 550,000 lived in Iraqi Kurdistan but some 400,000 have been displaced by fighting due to the jihadist Islamic State