ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said on Saturday that the 2014 genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State (ISIS) ten years ago was a “turning point” in the history of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, adding that the catastrophic incident shocked the whole world.
"The genocide of Yazidis in the modern era is a grave, unbelievable shock which shook the whole humanity in the world. It became a turning point in the history of Kurdistan and Iraq… The whole international community should have worked together so that such a crime is never and never repeated elsewhere,” President Barzani said in a speech delivered at an event in Erbil to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Yazidi Genocide.
Dozens of Kurdish officials, families of the victims and clerics from different religions attended the ceremony which was held at the University of Kurdistan - Hawler (UKH). The ceremony was organized by an office, affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Presidency, which rescues Yazidis kidnapped by ISIS in 2014.
When ISIS swept through the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in August 2014, committing genocide.
President Barzani said at the event that Yazidis are still suffering from the consequences of the genocide. The fate of 2,596 of more than 6,417 Yazidis abducted by ISIS in 2014 remains unclear, he added.
"The destruction of Shingal and its vicinity, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of the residents of Shingal and the area, and the pain from all this [suffering] will not be forgotten in either 10 years or ever," President Barzani said.
Everything should be done to make sure the perpetrators are punished, justice is served and the victims are compensated, he stressed.
President Barzani said the office to rescue Yazidis will continue its work until all the kidnapped Yazidis are rescued.
“We assure all Yazidi brothers and sisters that the work of the teams of the office to rescue the kidnapped Yazidis will continue until all are rescued. Thousands of the victims need long-term psychological treatment and special care which should be provided,” he said.
He noted that Shingal needs renovation and basic services so that its residents are able to return.
Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement in 2020 to normalize the situation in Shingal, but the deal has yet to be implemented.
Despite both the KRG and the Iraqi government calling on all armed groups to leave Shingal on several occasions, the agreement has been rejected by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) whose proxies dominate parts of Shingal.
“The Iraqi federal government should cooperate with the Kurdistan Regional Government to implement the Shingal agreement and normalize the situation [in the town]. Serving the people of Shingal and the Yazidi community should be the priority of all of us. We should all work together so that Shingal and Yazidis will no longer become the victims of partisan and political agenda,” President Barzani said at the Erbil event.
