- Yazidis who live in Northern Iraq

were nearly wiped outby ISIS six years ago,

and now fear returning to theirhomes in and around Sinjar

because of aggressionsby Turkey and others.

U.S. Commissioner forInternational Religious Freedom

Nadine Maenza is hereto help us understand

some of the dynamics in the region.

Thank you, Nadine.

First, tell us what happened on Sunday.

- Sure.

On Sunday evening, Turkeycommenced air strikes

on Sinjar in Iraq.

And they did what theycalled Operation Claw Eagle,

they named it, with over 81 air strikes

in this area of Sinjar,

which is where the homelandfor the Yazidi people

where they were victimsof genocide in 2014.

And in the same weekthese attacks happened,

Yazidis were just starting to come back.

They had about 200families which had returned

just a few days before these attacks.

So, it was very troubling to us,

as well as many others around the world.

- It sounds like thetiming there is suspect.

Why does this latest moveby Turkey matter so much?

- Well, Turkey has been in a feud

with the KurdistanWorkers' Party or the PKK

for quite a long time.

And they consider them terrorists.

And they are accusingthem of planning attacks,

or at least that's whatthey're saying from Sinjar.

There's no proof thatthat's been the case.

There is the PKK present there

but these attacks to do 81 strikes

in an area that is so poor, so desperate,

with so few Yazidis having returned,

and the ones that didreturn had to experience

literally watchingthem, Mt. Sinjar on fire

was really troubling andreally disturbing to them.

We were told by Mirad,

I was told by MiradIsmelf, a Yazidi leader

that about 700 families wereliving in a camp on Mt. Sinjar

just two kilometers awayfrom some of the strikes.

And so, putting their lives in danger,

traumatizing them again.

And it seemed as if they weren'ttrying to hit the targets

as they were trying to makea statement and to scare.

Was it to keep the Yazidis from coming

or was it to make a point

that they consider the PKK to be dangerous

and they're worthy ofthese kind of strikes

even though it did not

seem to match the facts on the ground?

And it seems that we've seen this

with President Erdogan from Turkey before,

where when there'sdomestic problems at home

that you'll see him doinginternational efforts

to draw attention away from that.

We know, a lot of us remember

when he arrested Pastor Andrew Brunson,

the American pastor of a small church

and accused him of being a spy.

- Well give us a senseof the current status

of the Yazidi people.

I mean, you mentioned

that only a few families have gone back,

that some were just startingto go back this week.

You pointed out that six years ago

they were nearly wipedout by the Islamic State.

What is their status right now?

- Over 400,000 are still incamps in the Kurdistan region

of Northern Iraq in Duhok,

and then some of them have also been able

to immigrate away to other countries.

And so there's been constructionjust starting to happen.

There really is a need forself-governance in Iraq

for them to be able to buildtheir own security forces

and to build their own,have their own mayor,

have their own governance,

as the Christians also need,

those Christian areas need the same thing,

that would really help for long term

for them to be able to have a community.

ISIS went after them really the most

and kidnapped over 6,000 ofthe women into sex slavery.

3,000 are still missing.

- I know you have Tweeting about this.

What is the Commission'stake on Turkey's actions?

- That Turkey should not

be going after religious minorities,

either in Iraq or in Syria,

and that when they dowe're gonna call them out.

- Commissioner Maenza, thank you so much.

- Thank you for having me.