Yazidi family abandons EU dream, reluctantly returns to Iraq
By SAMYA KULLAB
Associated Press
DOHUK, Iraq (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqis have returned home after abandoning their journey to reach the European Union through Belarus, after they got stopped at the Polish border in a standoff that turned tense. Khari Hasan Kalo returned Thursday to northern Iraq with his wife, three young children and his 80-year-old mother. The Kalos are Yazidis, a religious minority that was brutalized by Islamic State militants who overran northern Iraq in 2014. They had left a displacement camp for Belarus two months ago, hoping never to return, but Kalo said they decided to come back because he feared his mother would not survive the increasingly difficult journey.