Lincoln Kurdish community gathers at Capitol steps to protest recent Syria issues

With over 100 Kurdish families in the Lincoln community, a few of them felt they needed to be heard.

Friday, they gathered on the steps of the Capitol building to express their frustrations.

One of them, who was a translator for the U.S. Army in Iraq and says he feels let down by the lack of support from the United States.

“It is betrayal, it is abandonment for us. We are shocked, we are scared and we didn’t expect this from these officials,” Bashar Kamir said.

The protest comes just days after the Kurdish community wrote over 800 letters to Nebraska federal government expressing their concern for the safety of those in Turkey and Syria.

With removing troops from Syria, Kamir, believes that this could allow ISIS back into the country.

He says that it’s not just the Kurdish community that should be concerned about this crisis.

“Imagine when these people, when they will be free, they will go back to build up their army. Just like 2014 and 2015. They will restart again and they will not stop only in Syria,” Kamir said.

The community is saddened to hear that so many Kurdish people are being forced to leave their homes and they want to see change.