KRG PM calls on Baghdad to aid Ezidis return home on fourth anniversary of IS Genocide
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Marking the fourth anniversary of the genocide committed against Yezidis (Ezidis) in Iraq, Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani promised the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) sustained efforts in helping members of the ethnic-religious minority and called on Baghdad to follow suit and fulfill its national duty.
“The Kurdistan Regional Government will continue its duty of protecting the Ezidis and providing more aid to the displaced persons from the region of Shingal [Sinjar],” read the statement Barzani’s office released on August 3, the day IS stormed the area.
Members of the ethno-religious minority, living mostly in the disputed territory in the province of Nineveh in northern Iraq, were one of the primary victims of the Islamic State (IS). Thousands of them remain displaced from their homes or are unaccounted for.
Following the 2014 emergence of IS in Mosul, Iraqi security forces abandoned the area, leaving behind heavy weaponry and military equipment in the hands of the jihadist group. This allowed them to quickly expand, invading nearby towns and cities, especially those not sufficiently protected such as the Ezidi-majority city of Shingal.
On Aug 3, 2014, IS fighters stormed Shingal, kidnapping and enslaved thousands of Ezidi women and girls and carrying out large-scale executions of hundreds of members of their community.
Peshmerga forces, with the support of US-led coalition air strikes, retook Shingal in a military operation staged in November of 2015.
“We will not stop until all our abducted Ezidi brothers and sisters have been rescued,” Barzani continues in the statement, explaining “our special office [established for their rescue] will continue working and liberating captives.”
Iraq declared victory over IS in December 2017 after sustained campaigns by Iraqi and Kurdish forces, supported by the US-led coalition, weakened the organization considerably. The central government is currently in charge of the security and administration of these areas.
“We see it as necessary that the Iraqi Federal Government normalizes the condition of Shingal and fulfill its duty in reconstructing the region and providing services so that its people can return to their homes.”
“I call upon the country-members of the coalition against Daesh [IS], and the international community in general, to participate in the restoration process of the Shingal district,” Barzani added.
Barzani also paid his respects to the valiant Peshmerga who lost their lives during the liberation campaign of Shingal.
Editing by Nadia Riva