Massacre in Sinjar, one year on: REPAK statement
REPAK, the Kurdish Women’s Relations Office based in Erbil, has published this statement on the one year anniversary of the IS attack on Sinjar/Shengal, which led to a horrific massacre in which thousands of Yezidi people were killed, thousands taken into sexual slavery and many more thousands were displaced.
To the press and public
Exactly one year ago, gangs of the so-called Islamic State (IS) tried to carry out genocide in the Southern Kurdish (Northern Iraqi), mostly by Yazidis inhabited city Shingal/Sinjar. On 3 August 2014, IS aimed to occupy Shingal by massacres and ethnic cleansing in the villages around. According to numbers of the UN, due to the massacres that started on 3 August, 5 thousand Kurdish Yazidis got killed, 7 thousand girls and women got kidnapped like trophies, enslaved by IS gangs and sold in slavery markets. Even though some of the women were able to escape, a lot of women committed suicide for escaping from this atrocity. But still thousands of women remain in the hands of IS. Continue reading “Massacre in Sinjar, one year on: REPAK statement”
KCK: “We salute our people’s resistance”
The KCK condemns the massacres in Shengal, declares those who lost their lives as martyrs, and praises all resistance forces who are struggling against ISIS:
TO OUR PEOPLES AND THE PUBLIC OPINION
On the 14th of August 2007, our Yazidi people in the Shiba and Shex Khidir villages of Shingal suffered a bloodthirsty massacre in which 450 of Yazidi Kurds lost their lives. We vehemently condemn the perpetrators of this massacre and remember with respect the victims of the massacre. Continue reading “KCK: “We salute our people’s resistance””
HDP: HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SHENGAL, MAXMUR AND ROJAVA
The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey has released this statement on the drastic humanitarian crisis effecting Shengal, Maxmour and Rojava this week.
Download the full statement here.
12.08.14
Since the Civil War in Syria, ISIS (Iraq and Sham Islamic State) has been caused a large scale tragedy in Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan. Millions of civilians had to flee from the ISIS invasions. Tens of thousands civilians were victims of the mass ISIS executions.
Especially the rapid ISIS Occupation in Mosul Region in Iraq is the milestone for the future of the Middle East. Unfortunately, ISIS has found an opportunity for eliminate all the different religious groups, sects and opposites. ISIS gets many heavy arms and large number ammunition in Mosul. Therefore, peoples in Iraq and Kurdish Regions who live in rural areas became defenseless. Especially Kurdish Ezidi minority in Shengal and Shia Turkmens who escaped from Tel-Afer to Shengal had surrounded by ISIS forces. More than 50.000 people including children, women and elders have sheltered to Shengal Mountain without water and food for nearly 1 week. Due to the ISIS Siege around the Shengal Mountain, the people had no way to escape to secured areas and hundreds of children and elders died of thirst there. Thousands of civilians who couldn’t flee were executed by ISIS in Shengal Town and its villages.
Because of the urgency, Syrian Kurdistan’s (Rojava) armed People Protection Units (YPG) mobilized to protect the besieged people by ISIS in Shengal Mountain. Although the hard clashes with ISIS militants, YPG Forces has succeeded to open a security corridor for transferring the people to the secured areas. So, more than 20.000 Ezidi civilians transferred to the Syrian Kurdistan. Thousands of Ezidi are on way. Administration of Cizire Canton in Rojava Region has started to establish a refugee camp in Derîk region in order to providing their necessary needs.
It is clear that, tens of thousands people needs international support. Therefore, we kindly ask you to take initiative to organizing the aid activities and necessary diplomatic interventions. On the other hand, Turkey should provide a corridor for transmitting the humanitarian aid from Turkey to Rojava Region. So, we ask you to encourage Turkish Government to provide easiness for aid organizations. Especially the transition region Şenyurt-Dirbesiye immediately keeps open for humanitarian aid transfers.
We hope that your efforts for enforced migrated people will create a hope for the peoples in the region.
Respectfully yours,
Selahattin DEMİRTAŞ Co-President of HDPFigen YÜKSEKDAĞ Co-President of HDP