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Iraqi Turkmens fleeing from Sinjar receive no help from Turkey

Kasim Kara, Iraqi Turkmen Front spokesman, says he was not allowed into Turkey at the Habur gate on Aug. 7 because not all members of his family have passports.
Iraqi Shiite Turkmen Families fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul arrive at Shangal, a town in Nineveh province, June 17, 2014.  The mainly Turkmen city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, fell to Sunni militants late on Sunday, and the Iraqi military said it was sending reinforcement there. The Iraqi army said on state television it had killed a top militant, named Abu Abdul Rahman al-Muhajir, in Mosul in clashes.  Picture taken June 17, 2014. REUTERS/ Ari Jalal (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UN

“The [Turkish] border is our last hope. Hundreds of families started their march for their last chance of survival either by car or on foot,” Kasim Kara, Tal Afar Turkmen Front spokesman told Al-Monitor on Aug. 7, just an hour before US President Barack Obama ordered targeted airstrikes to prevent genocide and protect the civilians trapped in the Sinjar Mountains escaping the radical Islamic State (IS) militants’ threat.

With the capture of Sinjar on Aug. 3 by IS militants, hundreds of families fled to the Sinjar Mountains with only the clothes on their back, trying to escape beheading and rape of their women.

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