Staging a march at the ‘Humanitarian Corridor’ opened by the guerrillas and fighters during the ISIS onslaught in 2014, the people of Shengal saluted those who saved them from genocide.
The people of Shengal are organizing events to mark the anniversary of the 3 August 2014 genocide perpetrated by ISIS in the Yazidi city in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq).
Residents of the city staged a march through the ‘Humanitarian Corridor’ opened by the guerrillas and fighters, through which they had been enabled to cross into Rojava at the time of the genocide.
Kurdish guerrilla forces and fighters from Rojava (North Syria) opened up a humanitarian corridor between the villages of Digue and Duhol and transferred thousands of Yazidis to Rojava through it. The Yazidis call this corridor the 'Freedom Path’.
The crowd chanted slogans and carried banners expressing their reactions to the betrayal of the ruling KDP, the peshmergas of which ran away even before ISIS stormed the city, and saluting the guerrillas of the Kurdistan freedom struggle who ran to their aid and saved them from genocide.
Xelil Heci read out a statement on behalf of the Shengal People’s Assembly and called the ‘Humanitarian Corridor’ as the ‘Path of Humanity’ for the Yazidis. “Children, mothers and families survived firstly thanks to God, then Leader Öcalan. We send our greetings from Mount Shengal to Imrali. We salute HPG, YJA-Star, YPG, and our people in Rojava and South Kurdistan. We, the Yazidi people, will not forget the good and bad done to us.”
Speaking about the KDP’s betrayal against the Yazidis, Xelil Heci said: “ISIS perpetrated a mass slaughter against our people, which was supported by the Turkish state, as well as by Iraq and Syria. Mount Shengal stood against them. The Yazidi youths and the followers of Leader Öcalan stood against the enemy, who couldn’t seize even a single stone from Mount Shengal. August is the month of resistance, vengeance and heroism.”
Speaking after, Hisên Sedo from the Autonomous Administration of Shengal noted that the humanitarian corridor had been opened up thanks to the sacrifice of martyrs and freedom fighters. “We will not forget the martyrs and heroes. Thousands of our people espaced genocide thanks to this corridor. On that black day, nothing was left on the earth in the name of humanity. It was only the followers of Leader Öcalan that opened up that path and showed what humanity is. We thank the fighters who saved the Yazidis from genocide.”
