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Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 06, 2017 11:28 am

2,745 Yezidi children have lost one or both parents :((

An updated government figure puts the number of Yezidi children who have lost one or both parents to ISIS since 2014 at 2745 minors, according to the Director of the office of Yezidi affairs in the Kurdistan Region.

The new figures show that one or both parents of 220 children are still in ISIS captivity or missing, the director of the Yezidi office Khairi Bodani told Rudaw.

The numbers include 1,759 children who have lost their fathers, 407 children who have lost their mothers and 359 children who have lost both parents. The report says that nearly all of the children currently reside in camps across the region with no or limited professional treatment available for them.

“We have called on the Kurdish government as well as international donors to take the issue of the orphan children seriously and come to their aid,” Bodani told Rudaw earlier.

The office of the Yezidi Affairs was set up by the Kurdish government in the aftermath of ISIS’ takeover of territory in northern Iraq and genocide against the Yezidi population. According to the office, of the 6,255 Yezidis who were kidnapped in August 2014, 3,878 are still in ISIS captivity with nearly 1,800 of them being women and children.

The number of the Yezidis killed by the militants could be as high as over 3,000 but no accurate data is still available since many of the victims’ families have left Iraq and Kurdistan for Europe and it has been increasingly difficult to verify the number of fatalities.

The Iraqi migration office in Erbil has announced that over 40,000 Yezidis have migrated to Europe since 2014.

http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/050320171
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:32 pm

Shengal’s call to the world: They want to annihilate the Êzidîs

Institutions in Shengal held a joint press statement and protested KDP’s attacks, saying: “We want the peshmerga who abandoned us to the ISIS gangs to leave Shengal, not the YBŞ.”

The Êzidî community in Shengal bid farewell to their martyrs who lost their lives on the March 3 attack, and held a joint press statement with hundreds attending afterwards.

Heci Hesen read the statement in the name of Shengal Constituent Assembly, Shengal Women’s Assembly and Êzidî Freedom and Democracy Party (PADÊ) and said: “This incident in Khanesor happened in line with the perspective and the order of Erdoğan’s and Barzani’s meeting in Turkey. These gang forces call themselves “Roj peshmerga” and are comprised of Syrian Kurdish refugees, Turkish intelligence MIT and ISIS gang members that have been trained in Southern Kurdistan by the Turkish state and the KDP. These forces claimed they were going to fight ISIS and defend Shengal. But they attacked Êzidîs instead. The town of Khanesor is a liberated town and is under YBŞ control. YBŞ is made up of Êzidî daughters and sons. They have faith and they are resilient. They are fighting ISIS.”

“WE DON’T WANT THE PESHMERGA WHO FLED IN SHENGAL”

Heci Hesen also touched upon the goals of the KDP-backed armed groups and said: “If the purpose of the Rojava peshmerga was to save the Êzidî women and children enslaved by ISIS and to avenge our people murdered in the 73rd massacre, they would move towards the east of Shengal and liberate Southern Shengal from ISIS control with the peshmerga there. But the peshmerga positioned there again enabled passage for ISIS-allied gangs and placed them in Southern Kurdistan. For example, the gangs in Qabus village: By the beginning of the Mosul operation in 2015, the peshmerga opened the way for the gangs and Hashdi Shabi retaliated.”

CALL ON THE UN, BAGHDAD AND HEWLER

Hesen called on human rights organizations and continued: “We are calling on the United Nations and the benevolent states. Don’t let the Êzidîs suffer through another massacre. We are also calling on the UN to stop their aid for the peshmerga. Because most of the aid the peshmerga receive are supposed to be for Êzidîs, but the aid and weapons and ammunition are used against them. We are also calling on the Iraqi Government, take a clear stance for a solution in Shengal. There is still uncertainty in Shengal after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government.

For Êzidîs to be able to protect themselves from attack and guarantee their existence, the YBŞ and independent defense forces should be supported. We are calling on the people and the political parties of the Kurdistan region, clarify your stance. We are also calling on the headmen and religious representatives that keep speaking on behalf of the Êzidîs. They represent only themselves. The Êzidîs can represent themselves, they can speak for themselves. Everybody knows they turned their backs on the Êzidîs in their time of need. Now they can’t represent the Êzidîs. They made Qasim Shesho commander for short term plays, and they added Haydar Shesho's forces to the peshmerga in the region. We are also calling on these forces, those who abandoned our people in August 2014, stay away. Nobody has forgotten about that.”

The statement Heci Hesen read continued: “Our stance to build Democratic Autonomy is for Shengal having an independent administration and being under the Iraqi government. Because we have lost faith in the peshmerga. They caused a massacre to befall our people. They turned their back on the civilian population of women, children and elderly, abandoned them to ISIS gangs and fled. That is why we want the peshmerga forces, especially the KDP peshmergas to withdraw from the region. We want Baghdad to make YBŞ more active in regards to weapons and numbers, so the massacre doesn’t happen again.

“THERE WOULD BE A CIVILIAN MASSACRE IF IT WASN’T FOR YBŞ’S RETALIATION”
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:37 pm

More 'Rojava Peshmergas' dispatched to Shengal's Khanesor town

The so-called 'Rojava Peshmergas' affiliated to the AKP and KDP are making an increasing deployment in Shengal's Khanesor town.

phpBB [video]


According to local sources, the mentioned groups already situated in Old Mosul area have been taken out of this region and are heading for Khanesor now.

These gang groups trained by Turkey are meant to be deployed on Shengal-Rojava border to cut this line.

On the other hand, reports are coming through that gang groups have also been deployed in the city of Rabia and new groups will be dispatched to the corridor between Shengal and Rojava.
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:42 pm

Prague to send psychotherapists to help Yazidis in Iraq

The Czech Foreign Ministry plans to send psychotherapists to the northern Iraqi areas vacated by Islamic State in order to help the local Yazidi community overcome the deep traumas caused to them by the jihad militants, daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes Friday.

The Yazidis are a minority combining Islam with elements of other religions such as Hinduism, Persian Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and shamanism. While invading northern Iraq, the jihadists often executed Yazidi men and took the women away with them as sexual slaves, HN writes.

Link to Full Article:

http://www.praguemonitor.com/2017/03/06 ... zidis-iraq
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:52 pm

Newly arrived Yazidis who escaped sex slavery of ISIS
Now eager to build better future in Canada

In a dark hallway of a London, Ont., motel, a young Yazidi woman and her husband's uncle explain how he raised $26,000 to buy her freedom from the ISIS captors who had forced her into sex slavery.

As she holds her restless son, the woman in her 30s speaks softly, recounting her time in captivity in Syria after being snatched from her home in the Sinjar region of Iraq. For two and a half years, she was passed from one ISIS member to the next — beaten, tortured and used as a sex slave.

Bhasa (not her real name), who arrived in Canada as a refugee two weeks ago, says her freedom came after her ISIS captors decided to sell her to her family. Through intermediaries, contact was made with her husband's uncle in Iraq, who went about raising money to pay the ransom.

"I cannot describe the feeling," said the uncle, who, like Bhasa, asked not to be identified. "Very good feeling that at last I found one of the family members that we could bring back with money.

"We had a car; we sold it. Whatever we had, we sold. Some in the community went around to collect money for them."

He said he was able to buy his nephew's wife's freedom in July 2016. Once free, Bhasa and three of her children made their way to a refugee camp in the Kurdish region of Iraq, where they lived until they, along with the uncle, were able to leave for Canada.

She and her children are being sheltered in this London motel, temporarily, all brought over from Iraq by the Canadian government.

They're part of a group of 400 Yazidis the government pledged last October to bring to Canada after the House of Commons passed a Conservative motion declaring the violence perpetrated against the religious minority group in Iraq and Syria an act of genocide. Last month, the Trudeau government announced that it will bring in a total of 1,200 survivors of ISIS violence by the end of the year, the majority of whom are expected to be Yazidi.

​Yazidis are ethnic Kurds who mostly reside in northern Iraq and practice a religion that has elements of Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism. Branded as devil worshippers by some Muslims, including ISIS militants, the community has faced persecution for centuries.

Bhasa says that now that she's in Canada, she's simply looking for a better future for her children and hopes the Canadian government will bring in more of her people, who continue to suffer at the hands of ISIS.

"We came for safety because where we came from there's no safety," she said. "So many cases, none of the family has survived.

"What we suffered, it's like the crime of the 21st century."

Tight-knit community

It's here in London — where about 300 Yazidis have formed a small but tight-knit community since the early 1980s when they fled the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein — that Bhasa and other recently arrived Yazidis hope to start building a new life for their families and try to move beyond the horrors they suffered in captivity.

Dalal Abdallah, a Yazidi human rights activist who lives in London, says members of her community have been donating clothing, hygiene products and toys for the families who have arrived and look forward to absorbing more into their community.

"For many, many years, we have been struggling [to grow] as a community because no Yazidis were coming through," she said. "It's a great opportunity to build our community, and the more people, the merrier."

She said London has already accepted and integrated Syrian refugees and that there's enough support for Yazidis, including a program at Victoria Hospital to help refugees deal with trauma.

Other support comes from London's Cross Cultural Learner Centre, where Yazidis can learn some basic tools for integrating in Canada: how to get housing, set up bank accounts, apply for health cards.

"We are here to support them, welcome them, make them feel comfortable, that they are not alone here," said Omar Khoudeida, a Yazidi interpreter who works at the centre and who himself came to London nearly 20 years ago as a refugee.

"There's a community behind them and supporting them."

But even with that support, Bhasa must still cope with the emotional fallout of a family torn apart by genocide.

She fears being identified. Although she doesn't know the fate of family members in Iraq, she's worried that going public could put them in danger. She hasn't seen her husband and other male relatives since ISIS invaded her home in August 2014.

Daughter still missing

She also fears for her daughter, who was nine years old when she was snatched by the Islamist militant group.

"They took her. She doesn't know anything about her," Khoudeida said.

While ISIS targets all communities, it has particular antipathy for Yazidis, whom it considers to be infidels.

Last June, a UN commission declared in a report that ISIS was committing genocide against the religious group of about 400,000. ISIS, it said, was subjecting "every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities."

When the militants launched their attack in the Sinjar region, they killed many of the male Yazidis while thousands of women and girls were sold in slave markets, the report said. ISIS fighters subjected Yazidi women to various forms of slavery, including sexual slavery, "with Yazidi women and girls being constantly sold, gifted and willed between fighters."

Amal, another Yazidi woman from Sinjar who came to Canada two weeks ago, is living in the same London, Ont., motel as Bhasa with her eight children.

She's also missing a daughter, who, along with every other member of Amal's family, is believed to be a captive of ISIS.

"When they captured us, they took all of our belongings, cash, jewelry, cellphones," said Amal, who also asked that her identity be protected. "They asked us to convert to Islam. We were afraid. They said either convert or we will kill you."

The men were separated from the women and the children. They were put in empty houses of those who had fled the area, she said.

"They told me, 'We killed all the men. Don't think about the men anymore. Think about us."

'You are mine now. I'm buying you'

Amal said ISIS tried to separate her from her 12-year-old daughter, but she grabbed the child. The captors hit Amal with guns, forcing her to let go of her daughter, she said.

That was the last she saw of her, Amal said.

Amal and her other children were taken to Syria, she said, where she was forced into sex slavery.

"They put [the women] in a line. They cover their faces," she said. "Those people who buy [women], they came, they just uncover their faces. They say, 'You are mine now. I'm buying you.'"

During the day, her children would be taken away by ISIS and taught Islam and brought back during the evening.

She was beaten and tortured and was sold and resold. She would take any opportunity in whatever town or city she was in to tell people she thought were not ISIS members that she was a Yazidi and had been captured.

One man, dressed like a member of ISIS, bought her and her children and told her he would find a way to bring them back to their people. He hid them, she said, before taking them to the Iraq-Syria border and reuniting them with other members of the Yazidi community not under siege by ISIS. And from there, she and her children ended up in a refugee camp in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

She cannot fully describe the feeling of being rescued, she said, but it was like being "born again." She says she prays for the man who purchased her freedom.

"He saved me and my children."

She said she's hoping one day her husband and daughter, if they managed to survive and escape, will be reunited with her.

"I believe that I will have a better future here, but I will never forget the people I lost back home."​

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/yazidi-wo ... -1.4002620
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:42 am

Amal Clooney: 'Yazidis in Iraq are ISIS genocide victims'

The lawyer acting on behalf of the Yazidis in Iraq is calling for a formal investigation into Islamic State (IS) for the crime of genocide.

Amal Clooney, whose husband is the Hollywood film star George Clooney, told the BBC's Fiona Bruce why she decided to represent the Yazidis - an ethnic Kurdish group - and why their cause was so important to her.

Link to Article - Video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39198623
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:40 pm

Kurdish Factions Turn Guns on Each Other in Yazidi Homeland

Yazidis living in Iraq’s Sinjar region are on edge, due to fighting last week between rival Kurdish factions — forces aligned with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and those aligned with the PKK.

Some Yazidis, who are ethnic Kurds, believe that the KRG failed to protect them from marauding ISIS fighters in 2014, leading to a genocide.

The KRG denies deliberately abandoning the Yazidis, saying that ISIS simply overran the KRG’s Peshmerga’s positions.

On Monday, the Yazidi-dominated Shengal (Sinjar) Constituent Assembly released a statement asking the United Nations and other “benevolent” states to intervene and end the fighting.

“Don’t let the [Yazidis] suffer through another massacre,” the Assembly statement said. “We are also calling on the UN to stop their aid for the [P]eshmerga. Because most of the aid the [P]eshmerga receive are supposed to be for [Yazidis], but the aid and weapons and ammunition are used against [us].”

The recent round of fighting erupted last Thursday night in Iraq’s Sinjar region — near the Syrian border — when Peshmerga forces loyal to KRG President Masoud Barzani clashed with those aligned with the Marxist-Leninist PKK — a Kurdish group fighting for independence from Turkey. These clashes came days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Barzani in Ankara, and greeted him with full diplomatic honors.

The fighting puts the United States in an awkward position because the KRG and the Syrian Kurdish factions aligned with the PKK all receive American support. (The State Department classifies the PKK itself as a terrorist group.)

Only a handful of casualties were reported in the most recent fighting.

A Facebook account aligned with the PKK posted the pictures of four men it identified as Yazidis who were killed in clashes with the Peshmerga. The pro-KRG outlet Basnews likewise reported that four PKK commanders were killed in the fighting.

If the KRG ultimately declares independence, the PKK-aligned groups — including their Yazidi allies, the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), under the leadership of the Shengal Constituent Assembly — will resist. This could lead to further bloodshed.

The Shengal Constituent Assembly statement demanded that the Peshmerga withdraw from the region, saying that those who “abandoned our people in August 2014, stay away. Nobody has forgotten about that.”

Many Yazidis feel a debt of gratitude to the PKK for rescuing them from ISIS after the Peshmerga withdrew in 2014, Georgia State University Professor Benjamin Kweskin told the Investigative Project on Terrorism. Even KRG leader Barzani acknowledged the PKK’s role in rescuing the Yazidis when he visited a Yazidi camp in August 2014.

“The KRG as a political entity has not had a good relationship with the Yazidis, specifically in Sinjar,” Kweskin said. “For the majority of the Sinjari Yazidis, they see and saw the PKK as being their saviors.”

For its part, the KRG accuses the PKK of playing a destabilizing role in Sinjar. The KRG asserts that it has the right to mobilize its Peshmerga forces whenever and wherever it wants. This includes the Sinjar region, even though it lies outside the KRG’s established official borders due to a never-implemented provision of Iraq’s 2003 constitution.

“The KRG has a legitimate concern about the PKK’s presence in Sinjar and the destabilizing and divisive role it is playing among the [Yazidi] community,” KRG spokesman Alex Ebsary said in an emailed statement. “However, we and the majority of the [Yazidi] community ask that the PKK and its affiliates withdraw from Sinjar and allow the process of reconstruction and reconciliation to go ahead. The well-being of the [Yazidis] and all the people of Sinjar is our priority.”

Mir Tahsin Beg, a Yazidi leader, echoed the KRG and urged the PKK to leave Sinjar and stop attacking the Peshmerga. He also disagreed with the Shengal Constituent Assembly, saying that Sinjar should be controlled by the KRG.

The Turks desperately want to remove the PKK and its Syrian allies from Iraqi soil. Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said on Friday that his government expects them to return to Syrian territory.

Similarly, Erdogan warned in October that Turkey would not let the PKK turn the Sinjar region into a stronghold. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak reinforced that statement in December, warning that Turkey would directly intervene if “Barzani did not get the PKK out of Sinjar [Shingal].”

The Shengal Constituent Assembly likewise blamed Turkey for last week’s Peshmerga attack against the PKK-aligned forces.

Meanwhile, KRG forces blame Iran for the skirmish. The PKK and its allies receive salaries from the Iranian-backed Shiite militia coalition known as Hasd al-Shaabi, which has been formally sanctioned by Iraq’s government in Baghdad.

Some officials speculate that the Kurdish fighting has simply become a proxy war between Turkey and Iran.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/03/09/k ... -homeland/
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:50 pm

Yazidi refugee from Syria uses art to find peace in Winnipeg

Nadim Ado shows off his work at the Elmwood Community Resource Centre as tribute to Syrian people

Image

Bloodied footprints and the sad faces of Syrian women are featured on some of the paintings currently on display at the Elmwood Community Resource Centre — a reminder of the trauma one refugee left behind.

Nadim Ado is a Yazidi refugee who fled his home country of Syria for a new life in Canada. He, his wife and their two children arrived as government-sponsored refugees on Dec. 23 of last year.

"I like art. I studied art in Syria, that was my life, my way of living in Syria," Ado, speaking in Arabic, said through a translator.

As an artist, Ado said he always found peace through his painting.

He said after he settled in Winnipeg he needed a space to reflect and heal.

"He needed a place so we offered him a space to express his emotion through art, so he's been coming here every day," said Nina Condo, executive director of the Elmwood Community Resource Centre.

"So this gives him purpose and a meaningful place to find peace," she said.

The resource centre offers language classes, settlement programs and employment advice for newcomers.

Condo said she met Ado last month after she noticed him frequently coming to the centre to paint.

"I'm like, 'What is he doing here?' So I started asking him and that's when I learned about his story," Condo said.

Ado said he still has many awful memories of the ongoing war in Syria. He saw many people killed in front of his home in Damascus, and he said he was also kidnapped by militants before he finally escaped to northern Iraq.

"I'm a Yazidi — maybe you've heard about what's happening to Yazidis there," he said through the translator.

The House of Commons recently declared the violence perpetrated against the religious minority group in Iraq and Syria an act of genocide.

Ado said he is now happy with his new life in Winnipeg, and optimistic about the future as long as his nine-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter are happy, he said.

"My son is still having bad dreams daily," Ado said.

Image

He said he channels his feelings through his artwork, which is currently on display at the centre to help educate the public about the suffering of Syrian people.

One of the paintings is a close-up of a young woman's face. It was hung up on the wall Wednesday afternoon in honour of International Women's Day.

"That one is to reflect the sadness of Syrian women, and because of International Women's day I wanted to explore that," Ado said.

"This reflects the life of the Syrian people before the war, the life for these people was regret … They enjoyed life before the war but after the war, it becomes mixed with blood and torture."

Another painting shows blood stains splattered across dozens of footprints.

"This work is about Syrian people in 2015 when they moved from Syria through Macedonia to Europe, like Germany and other countries," he said through the translator.

Ado's work was unveiled along with many other art pieces created by refugees as part of an International Women's Day event at the Elmwood Community Resource Centre on Wednesday night.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ ... -1.4016452
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Mar 10, 2017 3:30 am

YBŞ Commander:
We will never allow another massacre of Êzîdîs

Tîrêj Şengalî, a commander for Shengal Resistance Units-YBŞ spoke to well known newspaper regarding the recent developments and ongoing tension in Shengal.

YBŞ commander stated that they did not pass over the possibility of clashes with KDP-AKP gangs, and that a 450-member Turkish force has been reinforced to the Shengal region.

Tîrêj Şengalî said they are aware of the KDP media's smear campaign in which Êzîdîs' Kurdishness is questioned, the reality is manipulated through conspiracy theories and virtual discourses on behalf of Êzîdîs are circulated online. He stressed that this smear campaign could not breach the lines of the Êzîdî Kurds.

Below is the statement YBŞ Commander Şengalî made to the newspaper:

“The gangs are positioned between Khanasor and Sinûnê. We did not have any military forces there which is a civilian area. After the attack, we took positions across them. Before, we did not expect them to attack and we did not take a fighting position. We did not know that the ones that came to the area were non-Kurds disguised in Kurdish outfits. Now we know that gangs trained by the Turks are unleashed upon Êzîdî Kurds.

TURKISH SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES INVOLVED

They received reinforcements on March 6. We received the information that Turkish soldiers from Zumar had also come. We found out that nearly 450 Turkish special operations forces were sent as reinforcements. Barzani had already stated that he had requested the support of Turks. They have deployed a force of 2 thousand armed men so far. We are positioned as Êzîdî forces, there is no reinforcement for us from Rojava or HPG.

THEY ARE USING GERMAN WEAPONS

The gangs possess the weapons Germany gave to the KDP to fight against ISIS and protection of Êzîdîs as well as weapons given by the International Coalition and the Turks. Civilian areas were damaged with their armored personnel carriers, heavy automatic rifles, heavy weaponry and conventional combat vehicles.

HOW CAN WE HIDE THE CHILDREN OF THIS PEOPLE

The gangs and their KDP master claim that they have massacred many Êzîdîs and that we are hiding this. We do not have a character nor habit to disrespect our holy martyrs like that. We are one with our people, we are the children of this people, who are we going to hide from whom?

THEY DEMANDED CEASEFIRE, NOT US

They want to portray us as powerless, weak and easy to crush. We responded to their attack in a way they did not expect, this is why they demanded a ceasefire. I am making it clear here; they demanded the ceasefire, not us. Officials Ferîq Cemal and Bedel Mend called us and expressed their demand. Our people are angry and they see this attack as the signal of a new massacre. Our people are aware that these people have nothing to do with Kurdishness and Kurdistan.

WE MADE OUR ATTITUDE CLEAR

We made our attitude clear and warned them during our talk with their side. Their current stance is provocative. Any further attack will expand and will not be restricted with that area. Therefore, we are waiting in our positions in a way that will show them that this will be costly.

RAQQA CLAIM IS NOT TRUE

The claims that these gangs are going to join the Raqqa initiative and are mobilized at the US' request are not true. There are requirements of international laws of war. If these forces acted with the approval of the US, we would be informed about it. There exists a procedure for this. There is no such a thing. This is our land, we saved it from ISIS occupation with our blood. If their goal was to go to Raqqa, they would find and take another way.

WE ARE ALL ACROSS SHENGAL

Our forces are all across Shengal. The area from Khanasor to Mount Kulik, from Meyzîman to Heyala and the larger part of Mount Shengal is under our control. Our forces are also present in Shengal city center. KDP has forces in Mehwer, Dihola, surrounding villages, and Shengal city center. Til Izê, Tilminat, Girzerik, Koço and other villages in south Shengal are still under ISIS occupation.

THOSE REFUSING TO FIGHT AND SURRENDERING TO THE YBŞ

When the fighting erupted, some of the Êzîdîs in their ranks refused to fight and came near us. We let them go after the fighting and they united with their families. However, we also captured some of them and they are still being held.

THEY ARE NOT PESHMERGAS

I may be repeating myself here but this is important; we cannot see or describe these attackers as 'peshmergas.' The peshmergas that fought alongside us during the battle of Shengal did not take part in this attack. Some of our forces are still side by side with peshmergas. Now, some of them have taken positions against us in the city center. We are also preparing ourselves accordingly.

DO NOT BE THE TOY OF TURKS

Our call to Êzîdî people, the people of Kurdistan, and humanity is that they stand against this aggression. The war may expand and we don't want Kurds to die even though they are coming at us with this purpose. The children of Kurdistan should not be the victims of the KDP's political plans. Nobody should be the toy of the Turkish state. Everyone should assume responsibility. The honorable Kurdistani stance is by our side. Our people should know that the YBŞ/YJŞ will resist and never kneel down even one single fighter is left. We will never allow another massacre of our people to take place.

KDP PREVENTS US FROM ADVANCING TOWARDS SOUTH SHENGAL

Unfortunately, the KDP is preventing efforts for the liberation of areas under ISIS occupation in south Shengal. We wanted to do this with the peshmergas but they always stalled us. Then, when Mosul operation began, they start to use this as a trump card. The Iraqi government did not approve this either because Barzani blackmailed them that if YBŞ advances on south Shengal, he would pave the way for Turks towards Mosul. All of these factors have prevented us from advancing on Shengal so far.

ATTITUDE OF MALA MÎRAN

Truthfully, we cannot speak about Mala (Community) Mîran because we have never received any bad words or behaviors from them. They have always wanted the best. They have not uttered a single bad word against us. However, many people talk against us on their behalf. They call us and speak on Radio Çira Şengalê. Mala Mîran from Laleş say that unpleasant rumors regarding them are spreading. The Spiritual Council is saying 'we do not want clashes and war among our people.' This is indeed what we, too, want.”
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:29 pm

Former Yazidi sex slave fears plea for help ignored by world

An Iraqi Yazidi woman held as a sex slave by Islamic State militants says her advocacy for other victims has left her completely exhausted and frustrated that her captors have not faced justice.

Nadia Murad and her attorney Amal Clooney appeared at a United Nations event on Thursday to ask that the crimes of Islamic State militants be investigated and prosecuted, and they criticized the international body for inaction.

Murad, who turned 24 on Friday, was among thousands of women and girls abducted, tortured and sexually abused by militant fighters in northwest Iraq in 2014.

She first spoke before the U.N. Security Council in 2015 and has become an advocate for the Yazidi, speaking to governments and appealing to the international community to act.

"It is very hard to come here every time, and nothing tangible takes place," Murad told the Thomson Reuters Foundation after her appearance at the United Nations. "It's very hard for the victims as well to hear there is no progress."

Murad said she was abducted from her village in Iraq and taken to the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul. She was tortured and repeatedly raped before she escaped three months later.

The Yazidi, a religious sect whose beliefs combine elements of ancient Middle Eastern religions, are regarded by Islamic State as devil-worshippers.

In her speech at the U.N. event on accountability for crimes committed by Islamic State, the slight, soft-spoken Murad said: "I am physically and emotionally exhausted.... I have put my personal life aside to seek justice, rather than focusing on my own healing."

Six of Murad's family members, including a toddler not yet 3 years old, remain captives of Islamic State, and her sister-in-law escaped after nearly 30 months.

Murad said her advocacy has put others in her family in danger.

"I wish I could say this was worth it," Murad said in her speech through a translator. "My words, tears and my testimony have not made you act. I wonder whether there is any point in continuing my campaign at all."

Breaking into tearful English, she continued: "I cannot understand what is taking so long. I cannot understand why you are letting ISIS get away with it or what more you need to hear before you will act."

Clooney, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London who represents Yazidi women victimized in Iraq, has asked the United Nations to investigate Islamic State crimes, preferably with the cooperation of the Iraqi government.

The government of Iraq has voiced support for such an investigation but has taken no action that would trigger a U.N. response.

Clooney also wants the Islamist group brought before the International Criminal Court.

"Nadia speaks for all the Yazidis when she says how exasperated she feels," Clooney told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Victims like Nadia can't expect to wait forever."

According to the United Nations, the militants enslaved about 7,000 women and girls in 2014, mainly Yazidis, and is still holding 3,500, some as sex slaves.

Murad now lives in Germany, which has taken in some 1,000 Iraqi sexual assault victims, according to Clooney, who is married to actor George Clooney.

(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst, Editing by Astrid Zweynert. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuter ... world.html
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 13, 2017 12:09 am

Êzidîs in Europe organise a sit-in and long march against KDP's betrayal

Shengal Assembly in Europe, Êzidî Assembly in Europe, and Êzidî Federation in Europe issued a joint written statement and gave the message "we will stand against betrayal and stand with our people in Shengal."

In their statement, Shengal Assembly in Europe, Êzidî Assembly in Europe, and Êzidî Federation in Europe, which are the three biggest Êzidî organizations in Europe, said "Betrayal is the biggest foothold of colonialism in Kurdistan. Kurds would be free today, Kurdish youth would not have been massacred brutally, and Kurdish women would not have been kidnapped and sold in Arab-Turkish-Persian markets in the Middle East today if they had not been betrayed. KDP's betrayal is such a betrayal, a Trojan horse that is a wound in the heart of Kurds, and a rusty dagger ready to stab Kurds in the back."

Drawing attention to the most recent attack on Shengal, Êzidî organizations said "The martyrdom of 2 HPG and 5 YBŞ fighters during the latest attack paramilitary gang groups formed by the Turkish state carried out on Shengal is the most concrete example of this betrayal. The weapons that European states gave for the fight against ISIS were used against Êzidîs and they wanted to put our people through a massacre once again. We condemn the KDP administration for this attack and call upon Kurdish people in general, and Êzidîs in particular, to stand up against this betrayal."

Êzidî organizations shared the following information on the protests that will be organized all across Europe:

“As the Êzidî organizations in Europe, we state that we will stand firmly against this betrayal, stand with our people in Shengal, and do everything that is necessary for this purpose. We will protect Shengal and Laleş, the holy places of our people, Tawûsê the Angel and Zerdesht, against colonialism and betrayal at all costs.

Our main place for this is Shengal, the land of Dewrêşê Evdî, not Europe. We will resist in Europe too. We will launch an indefinite sit-in in front of the Berlin state parliament on March 13, 2017.

We will also organize a long march from Dusseldorf to the European Parliament in Brussels between March 20 and 27.

We will hold mass protests in front of the KDP bureaus in Paris, Stockholm, Canada, Greece, the US and Brussels on March 13.

We call upon our people, particularly Êzidîs, to participate in these protests and stand up firmly against the betrayal in order to prevent another massacre against our people."
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Piling » Mon Mar 13, 2017 7:24 am

PKK organizations, so PKK propaganda.

Currently yezidis militias and politicians are shared between PKK and KDP. So none of these demonstrations are "neutral" and can pretend to be done in the name of all yezidis.

In Iraq and Kurdistan as in Syria, there is no united minority : christians as yezidis as Turkmens are affiliated to different (rival) parties.
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:02 am

Piling wrote:PKK organizations, so PKK propaganda.

Currently yezidis militias and politicians are shared between PKK and KDP. So none of these demonstrations are "neutral" and can pretend to be done in the name of all yezidis.

In Iraq and Kurdistan as in Syria, there is no united minority : christians as yezidis as Turkmens are affiliated to different (rival) parties.


Agreed, but more often than not the PKK propaganda has some basis in factual events

One absolute truth is that there is military conflict taking place between the Peshmerga and the PKK in and around the Yazidi homeland

In my valued opinion: Forget the war games taking place in Syria and Iraq because international intervention in the area is only making matters worse - especially in Iraq were supporting the Shia against the Sunni will only cause further division between the 2 factions - they have HATED each other for 1400 years are are not about to kiss and make up any time soon

If the world had really cared about the situation, the coalition and other supporters would not have sold weapons to ISIS X(

The first priority should have been to rescue the kidnapped Yazidi women and children - if they had been European or American the coalition and the US would not have rested until they were all free - but they are merely Yazidis, unknown, ignored and forgotten :((

The other priority should have been for a UN peace-keeping force to move in and protect the Yazidi homes and villages from ALL outside interference

Remember when the first attack on the Yazidis took place - if the Yazidis had been fleeing from a natural disaster, such as a volcanic eruption, rescue workers from all over the world would have rushed to help them - painfully few people helped them and countless numbers died of cold and starvation on the mountain :((
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:41 am

New hope for Yazidi women tortured by ISIS fighters

A new psychological trauma institute for Yazidi women tortured by the so-called ISIS is being established at the university of Dohuk in Iraq. It is the first in the entire region.

Link to slide-show:

http://www.dw.com/en/new-hope-for-yazid ... g-37908825
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Re: Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Mar 13, 2017 9:48 pm

Understanding ISIS sexual attacks against the Yazidis

Femicide is essential to genocide. Any genocide. It’s what emerged from the International Yazidi Women’s Conference that took place on March 11 and 12 in Bielefeld, Germany.

Almost nobody had heard of the Yazidis before 2014, when the community living on the Shengal mountains, in Northern Iraq, was brutally massacred by ISIL. What especially shocked people all over the world was the scale of the violence towards women: while men were generally killed on the spot, women were raped, tortured, brutalised, enslaved and sold mostly as sexual slaves.

Last December the European Parliament assigned the Sakharov Prize to Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar), two young Yazidi women who managed to escape their ISIL captors, for their work and dedication in helping the other victims of this violence.

Last week’s conference focused on a number of aspects concerning the Yazidi genocide : ethnic, political, historical, psychological… However, at the centre of the different topics analysed by the panelists – and the core of the conference – was the women’s perspective.

The direct connection between genocide and femicide was underlined by all the panellists. Dr. Hanush Horanissyan, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, who made reference to past genocides of Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds and Jews, said: “What is common in genocides is that sexual violence is used as an inevitable byproduct of war or as a weapon”.

Vania Martins, a psychologist who treats women victims of violence, explained that women are the main target in genocides “because they are the organisers of the society”, so targeting them is the best way to destroy a community. Also, she continued, raping women both humiliates men and is used to dishonour women, so that communities disown them. In the case of ISIL, rape is also used as a powerful tool of recruitment: candidates to join the group are promised they will be able to have sex with the women of the populations they are going to conquer.

There were intensely emotional moments when Yazidi women described their experiences.
A 16-year-old Yazidi girl who managed to escape ISIL after six months in captivity told her story of horrors and slavery. She lost her father and brother and was sold, raped, tortured and beaten by her captors. Her testimony was part of a session on the trauma women and girls suffered from the massacres and from these experiences and on how to overcome it. As psychotherapist Ulrike Held explained, working together in the women’s movement in order to raise awareness on the Yazidi massacre is one of the ways to overcome trauma. Another being joining Shengal’s militias.

Daye Bihar, founder of the Shengal Women’s Council and a board member of the Yazidi Women’s Freedom Movement talked via videoconference because she couldn’t get a visa to come to Europe. She was welcomed by Kurdish women in the audience standing up and chanting “Long live resistance in Shengal”.

Bihar spoke for more than an hour, describing the horrors of the massacre, such as a woman who had to leave her son behind because he was disabled, or the bodies that were found of women who had been raped and then killed, or again, the woman who threw herself from a cliff in order not to fall into the hands of ISIL.”

Fractures within the current Kurdish movement is undermining the fragile security recently established in the region, she warned.

Former member of the European Parliament Feleknas Uca, now an HDP member of Parliament in Turkey and herself of Yazidi descent also addressed the conference. In her speech she called for the granted of autonomous status for Shingal, which, like other contested Iraqi regions such as Kirkuk or Maxmur, does not belong either to the Kurdish administration nor the government in Baghdad. In Uca’s view, this makes these areas particularly vulnerable to attacks:

“If Shengal had had a status,” she claimed, “They would have been able to defend themselves, and there would have been no massacre”. She also highlighted the plight of the 3,000 Yazidi women and girls in the hands of ISIL, not only in Iraq or Syria, but also in other Arab countries, where they were sold as sexual slaves.

http://www.euronews.com/2017/03/13/unde ... he-yazidis
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