The Foreign Relations Committee of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) released a statement about Monday’s events in the Qadiya refugee camp in Zaxo.

The statement published on Tuesday includes the following:

“In the late evening hours of August 30, 2021, an explosion occurred in the Qadiya refugee camp in the Zaxo region of the Kurdistan Region Iraq, killing two children and injuring numerous people. The camp is inhabited by members of our Ezidi (Yazidi) people who fled there when IS committed genocider in the Sinjar region. We express our condolences to the families of the victims of this attack and hope for a speedy recovery of the injured. At the same time, we would like to assure all our people who are staying in the camp that we will always stand by their side.

All witness accounts and the manner of the explosion indicate that this was an attack by the Turkish state. While basic questions regarding this incident were still unclear, some local KDP representatives and the KDP camp leadership quickly tried to blame the PKK for the explosion by
making provocative statements. This attitude and these provocations of KDP representatives aim to present the incident as independent from the continuous attacks of the Turkish state and to acquit Turkey of the fact that it carries out genocidal attacks on our people. The KDP representatives were silent about the attacks of the fascist Turkish state on August 16 and 17 this year, which resulted in massacres in the Old Market of Sinjar city and in a hospital. However, they blamed our movement for the explosion in the Qadiya refugee camp even before they had a first-hand look at the scene. We condemn this and at the same time would like to express that we believe this to be a deliberately executed plan.

The attack on the Qadiya camp took place shortly after an international summit in Baghdad and the visit of French President Macron. KDP representatives quickly tried to blame our movement for the attack. This reinforces the impression that they were aware of the event in advance. We therefore call on our people to take a stance against these biased and provocative statements and to condemn the KDP representatives who are responsible.

As a movement, we have always supported and continue to support the return of our Ezidi people to their homes in Sinjar and the reconstruction of the region. We will continue to provide all the
resources at our disposal for this purpose. The recent events in the Qadiya camp once again underscore the need for the people of Sinjar to be able to self-govern and defend themselves in their native land. We therefore call on the Iraqi government in particular, as well as the KDP and international forces, to stop playing their dirty games with our Ezidi people. And we call on the international public to support the legitimate demand of our Ezidi people to govern and defend themselves."