Yazidi Delegation Demand Recognition of Genocide During Visit to Moscow

Khoshewi Mohammad, Moscow - The Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov received a Yazidi delegation on Monday. Headed by the highest Yazidi religious leader Mir Tahsin Beg, both sides focused on the plight of Yazidi Kurds and the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Bogdanov, the Russian President`s special envoy for Middle Eastern Affairs, and the head of the Spiritual Council of World`s Yazidis, Tahsin Beg spoke at length about the plight of Yazidi women captured by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). A member of the Yazidi Council who attended the meeting, Karim Sulaiman, told K24 that the Russian side "wondered what will happen to religious minorities if Iraq goes to partition." He says Russians also called upon the United States and other Western countries to build a more robust coalition to defeat ISIS.

Khairi Bouzani, Director of Yazidi Affairs at Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs of the Kurdistan Region--who also attended the meetings--said they implored Russian officials to recognise the IS assault on Shingal (Sinjar) and its subsequent atrocities as genocide against Yazidis. Bouzani further added that they requested military support for Kurdish forces, the Peshmerga.

A press release published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website says the Yazidi delegation came "at the invitation of the Russian Society for Solidarity and Cooperation with the Kurdish people."