Instantly made homeless, tens of thousands of Yazidi families have sought shelter in Iraqi Kurdistan after being chased from their homes, often at gunpoint, by ISIS. Kurdish photographer Warzer Jaff spent a week documenting the exodus of the Yazidis from their ancient homeland. This portrait shows the family of former soldier Hajji Khalaf, 28, from Sinjar. With him is daughter Alisa, 3; son Ezel, 4; wife Thawra, 24; and daughter Alifa, 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yazidi refugees braced for life in exile

 

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Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan (CNN) -- They are the faces of an entire community on the run.

Singled out, threatened, chased at gunpoint from their homes.

Pursued purely because they are members of an ethnic and religious minority.

Iraq's Yazidi Kurds are no strangers to persecution. Their faith teaches them that throughout history, they have been subjected to 72 genocides. Many world leaders fear they are on the brink of a 73rd massacre, this time at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which calls itself the Islamic State.

Iraqi refugees fleeing ISIS

 

Terrifying moments after Yazidi rescue

 

Every tent holds a horror story

 

ISIS: We've taken Yazidi women, children

Kurdish photographer Warzer Jaff spent a week documenting the exodus of the Yazidis from their ancient homeland. What is immediately striking in his portraits are their piercing eyes.

"I am fascinated with the deep sadness in their eyes," Jaff says. "You don't see one single happy face."

There is little room for joy when one has been made instantly homeless.

In the weeks since ISIS militants overran cities and towns in northern Iraq, the Yazidis joined a modern-day exodus of hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis. Most of those fleeing come from the many other ethnic and religious minorities that make up the mosaic of the region, including Chaldeans, Assyrians, Turcomen, Shi'ites, Shabbak, Kurds.

Instantly made homeless, tens of thousands of these families have sought shelter in Iraqi Kurdistan. Driving through this region, one can see families squatting under bridges, camping in derelict buildings, unfinished construction sites, churches, youth centers, open fields.

Each refugee shares horrifying stories of abduction and murder. Even more disturbing, the frequent refrain that "our neighbors did this to us."

Their claims that Arab tribesmen joined in the looting and kidnapping of these defenseless minorities suggests there is little hope these communities will one day live side by side together again in peace. As one senior Kurdish official put it, "the social fabric has been torn."

"I don't want to live with Arabs anymore, they take our land, they kidnap our women, and they kill us, why should I live with them?" asked Ali Khalid, 75, a Yazidi.

He wandered amid the tents of a brand new refugee camp leaning on a cane; his long white mustache, a proud symbol for Yazidi men, drooping over his mouth. Like nearly every other displaced Iraqi we met over the last week, Khalid urged Western governments to grant his people asylum in Europe or North America.

Not far away, a grieving mother showed a laminated identity card. It belonged to her 20-year old daughter, Baran. She was fatally wounded by shrapnel two weeks ago, Khokhe Namir said, while racing out into the backyard to pull a child back to safety.

"I buried her with my own hands," Namir said, scraping at the dirt with her fingers, as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Amid the grief and despair, there are still moments of childlike innocence. In a refugee camp for Iraqis that sprouted up in a Kurdish-controlled enclave in Syria, a red-haired girl picked through a pile of second-hand clothes donated by local Kurds.

"I like the bright colors and the flowers," she said, after eyeing a long dress decorated with pink flowers.

Last Friday, Jaff wandered up from a tent in a refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan visibly shaken. "There's a newborn baby who was born on the mountain, I'm afraid she's going to die," he said.

In the tent, the parents of the 6-day-old girl had bound their infant in a sheet and laid her on the dirt, atop a pile of blankets and cushions. They didn't have a cradle for the child.

The girl was born on Sinjar Mountain. Tens of thousands of Yazidis sought refuge on its heights as they fled ISIS fighters, only to find themselves trapped and surrounded by the militants.

Jaff took the little girl's parents into town and bought them a cradle and extra food for their baby. Across the Kurdish regions of Iraq and Syria, there have been many similar acts of kindness and generosity from locals toward their less fortunate cousins from farther south.

The baby's parents told me despite the heat, she was eating normally. The girl appeared healthy. Her mother said she was thinking of naming her child Hajar. Loosely translated, that means migrant or as the family interpreted it, "Exile."

準備迎接流亡生活雅茲迪難民
由伊万·沃森和Warzer JAFF，美國有線電視新聞網
2014年8月17日 - 更新1108 GMT（1908 HKT）
瞬間無家可歸，雅茲迪家庭數以萬計的尋求庇護的伊拉克庫爾德斯坦從他們的家園被追殺後，經常在槍口下，通過ISIS。 庫爾德攝影師Warzer JAFF花了一個星期，從他們的古老家園記錄了Yazidis的外流。 這幅畫像顯示的前軍人哈吉卡拉夫，28歲，來自辛賈爾的家庭。 他是女兒艾麗莎，3; 兒子艾澤爾，4; 妻子Thawra，24; 和女兒Alifa，6。 瞬間無家可歸，雅茲迪家庭數以萬計的尋求庇護的伊拉克庫爾德斯坦從他們的家園被追殺後，經常在槍口下，通過ISIS。庫爾德攝影師Warzer JAFF花了一個星期，從他們的古老家園記錄了Yazidis的外流。這幅畫像顯示的前軍人哈吉卡拉夫，28歲，來自辛賈爾的家庭。他是女兒艾麗莎，3; 兒子艾澤爾，4; 妻子Thawra，24; 和女兒Alifa，6。
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準備迎接流亡生活雅茲迪難民
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新聞提要
庫爾德攝影師Warzer JAFF花費一周記載雅茲迪庫爾德人
ISIS已經從他們的古老家園在伊拉克北部追捕Yazidis
成千上萬的家庭有數万伊拉克庫爾德斯坦尋求庇護
每個難民股份怕怕綁架和謀殺的故事
埃爾比勒，伊拉克庫爾德斯坦（CNN） -他們都在運行整個社會的樣貌。
單挑，威脅，在追逐自己的家園槍口下。
追求純粹因為他們是一個種族和宗教少數派的成員。
伊拉克的庫爾德人雅茲迪是不陌生的迫害。他們的信仰教導他們，在整個歷史上，他們遭受了72種族滅絕。許多世界領導人害怕他們是在第73屆大屠殺的邊緣，這次在伊斯蘭國家在伊拉克和敘利亞，這些自稱為伊斯蘭國家的手中。
伊拉克難民逃離ISIS 伊拉克難民逃離ISIS
雅茲迪搶救後可怕的時刻 每座帳篷持有的恐怖故事 ISIS：我們已經採取了雅茲迪婦女，兒童
庫爾德攝影師Warzer JAFF花了一個星期，從他們的古老家園記錄了Yazidis的外流。什麼是立即在他的肖像引人注目的是他們的火眼金睛。
“我很著迷，在他們眼裡深深的憂傷，”JAFF說。“你沒有看到一個單一的笑臉。”
有小房間的喜悅，當一個已立即無家可歸。
自從ISIS的武裝分子在伊拉克北部佔領城鎮週，Yazidis加入成千上萬的其他伊拉克人的現代外流。這些大多逃離來自許多其他少數民族和宗教少數構成該區域的馬賽克，包括迦勒底人，亞述人，Turcomen，什葉派，Shabbak，庫爾德人。
瞬間無家可歸，成千上萬的這些家庭已經在伊拉克庫爾德地區尋求庇護。通過這一區域行駛，可以看到家庭橋底蹲，露營在廢棄的建築物，未完成的工地，教會，青少年中心，開放領域。
每個難民股份怕怕綁架和謀殺的故事。更令人不安的，頻繁的副歌說，“ 我們的鄰居這樣對我們。“
他們聲稱，阿拉伯部落加入了這些手無寸鐵的少數人的搶劫和綁架事件表明有一點希望這些社區將在和平有一天生活並排再次攜手。正如一位資深的庫爾德官員所說的那樣，“社會結構已經被撕開。”
“我不想生活在阿拉伯人了，他們把我們的土地，他們綁架了我們的婦女，他們殺了我們，我為什麼要和他們住在一起？” 問阿里·哈立德，75，雅茲迪。
他漫步在一片全新的難民營拄著拐杖的帳篷; 他長長的白鬍子，一個驕傲的象徵雅茲迪人，下垂摀住嘴。像幾乎所有其他流離失所的伊拉克，我們遇到了在過去的一周，哈立德敦促西方國家政府給予他庇護的人在歐洲或北美。
不遠處，一位悲傷的母親表現出了夾層身份證。這是屬於她的20歲的女兒，巴蘭。她是致命的彈片兩個星期前受傷，Khokhe納米爾說，雖然賽車出到後院去拉孩子回安全。
“我把她葬了我自己的手，”南月明表示，刮在她的手指的污垢，如流眼淚順著她的臉頰。
在一片悲傷和絕望，還是有童真的時刻。在一個難民營的伊拉克人萌生了在敘利亞的庫爾德人控制的聚集地，一個紅頭髮的女孩通過了一堆二手衣服由當地庫爾德人捐贈的回升。
“我喜歡鮮豔的顏色和花，”她說，虎視眈眈長裙裝飾著粉紅色的花朵了。
上週五，JAFF從難民營中的伊拉克庫爾德斯坦明顯動搖帳篷徘徊起來。“還有誰是出生在山上一個初生的嬰兒，我怕她會死，”他說。
在帳篷的6日齡女孩父母約束他們的嬰兒在工作表中，並奠定了她上的污垢，上面有一堆毯子和墊子。他們沒有一個搖籃中的孩子。
女孩出生於辛賈爾山。Yazidis成千上萬的避難它的高度，因為他們逃離ISIS的戰士，才發現自己被困在武裝分子包圍。
JAFF把小女孩的父母進城買他們的嬰兒的搖籃和額外的食物。跨越伊拉克和敘利亞的庫爾德人地區，也出現了許多類似的善良和慷慨的行為，當地人對他們從遙遠的南方那麼幸運的表兄弟。
嬰兒的父母告訴我，儘管散熱，她是吃正常。這個女孩出現了健康。她的母親說，她想命名她的孩子哈吉爾的。大致翻譯，這意味著移民或作為家庭的解釋是，“流亡”。