by Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
In Ankara's Sincan district, a 24-year-old enslaved Yazidi woman was rescued after her relatives in Australia (who themselves are asylum-seekers) purchased her freedom on the dark web. The woman was held captive in a house in Sincan for 10 months and systematically raped. Signs of torture in the form of cigarette burns and razor cuts were found on her body.
A secrecy order was placed on the indictment against those ISIS members who had kidnapped a seven-year-old Yazidi child to Turkey and listed her for sale. These are allegedly high-ranking IS members. They are currently living in Ankara and remain free.
It is difficult to obtain data on the detained ISIS members from state authorities. When we ask questions to authorities, it is not possible to get an answer from them. — Hale Gonultas, Turkish journalist, interview with Gatestone Institute, October 2022.
"After I reported on Yazidi women's sales on the dark web, Ankara Anti-Terrorism teams came to my house. They emphasized that the buying and selling of foreign nationals within the borders of the Republic of Turkey is a 'human trafficking crime' and they claimed that I supported human trafficking through the press by publishing such news." — Hale Gonultas, interview with Gatestone Institute, October 2022.
"Very little is being done.... I do not believe ISIS members should be able to settle anywhere, and police authorities should actively search for them in every country. At the same time, the rescue of innocent Yezidi captives should be an associated priority. This is for security and safety but also for humanitarian and human rights reasons. These missing Yezidis have suffered enormously, and their rights must not be ignored." — Pari Ibrahim, executive director of Free Yezidi Foundation, to Gatestone Institute, October 2022.
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Photo by Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images
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