Kurdish media group Rudaw reported on 10 May 2021 that Turkey had staged
two military operations on 23 April in Duhok Province and established new military bases. As a result, two Christian villages in northern Iraq were abandoned after Turkish forces intensified bombings, allegedly to attack positions of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). On 3 May 2021, the village of Kesta in the district of Amedi was completely evacuated due to heavy bombing and some families fled to the neighboring village of Chalke. A week later, people were forced to flee from Chalke due to bombardment.
According to World Watch Research analyst Henriette Kats, there are at least three reasons which make this situation all the more painful: "First of all, this recent offensive started during the anniversary of the Ottoman Era Armenian genocide of April 1915. Secondly, among those fleeing Kesta and Chalke are Christians who had been expelled from their Nineveh village by the Islamic State group in 2014 and who had hoped to have found a safe place to live in Dohuk Province. Thirdly, little is published about these attacks in Western media, which can cause these Christians to feel even more abandoned."
Henriette Kats continues: "In the meantime, reports are emerging from local sources that a number of Christian families have returned to Kesta - despite ongoing sporadic bombardment - since it was difficult for them to find housing elsewhere. Most of the houses in the village have been damaged and there are unexploded shells in some of the gardens, not exactly a safe situation for the Christian inhabitants."
