The Foreign Relations Committee of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) has issued a statement on the agreement concluded between the governments of Iraq and the autonomous region of Southern Kurdistan on the Yazidi settlement area Shengal (Sinjar).

The statement by KCK Foreign Relations Committee includes the following:

"According to media reports, an agreement between the Government of Iraq and the Southern Kurdistan Government on the future of Shengal was made on October 9. Not all dimensions and details of the agreement have been published yet. The Council of Democratic Autonomous Administration in Shengal announced in a statement that they had no information about this, that decisions have been made without their knowledge and the people of Shengal have not been involved in the talks and the agreement. The Council stated that they will not accept decisions that are taken without asking them and the population for their opinion. Numerous people from the Yazidi population, Yazidi parties, dozens of Iraqi parliamentarians and tribal organizations have expressed support for the declaration of the Council. We also support the will of the Yazidi people and the statement of the Autonomous Council, which is made up of the true owners of Shengal.

It is unacceptable that those who left the Yazidi people alone with the genocide during the IS onslaught on August 3, 2014, now describe the forces that liberated Shengal and are children of Shengal’s people as “illegal forces that must be expelled from the region”. This definition is apolitical, immoral, inhumane and testifies to a lack of conscience. The Democratic Autonomous Council of Shengal is legitimate and official. Whoever has led to the fact that Yazidi women were sold on slave markets cannot make decisions about the Yazidi people and Shengal.

All talks and agreements in which the Autonomous Council of Shengal and the people are not involved mean that the will of the Kurdish Yazidi people living in Shengal is not recognized. The fact that such a thing even takes place under UN supervision is another catastrophe. The agreement that was reached behind closed doors through secret diplomatic talks means that the genocide and massacres against the Yazidi people will continue in the coming period.

The KDP media, which make propaganda like a special war center and report that PKK forces will be driven out of the region, reveal the aim of this agreement, in which the population of Shengal has not been involved. The HPG guerrillas saved the Yazidi people from genocide and, after completing their task, left the defense of Shengal to the forces of YBŞ and YJŞ, which are composed of people from the local population. Afterwards the guerrillas withdrew from the area. We condemn this reporting which is a part of the Turkish dirty propaganda.

Nothing is more natural than the fact that the autonomous administration, under which the Yazidi people in Shengal can govern and defend themselves, be the main actor in the discussion about their own future. In this respect, it is a condition that the Autonomous Council, which represents the will of the people, be involved in a process of discussion and decision-making. Anything else will be dangerous and unacceptable.

Our people must take a stand everywhere against the current situation and go into action. In Shengal there has been an autonomous system for six years now, with which the region is self-governed and defended. Until this system is recognized, an uninterrupted struggle must be waged. We call on the UN and the international mechanisms to take a stand against this treatment that endangers the life and future of the Yazidi people.”

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