Shengal Administration released a statement about the KDP-affiliated groups' attack in Shengal's Khanasor town.

Full text of the statement by Shengal administration is as follows;

"On March 3, 2017 gangs affiliated to the KDP and AKP attacked Shengal's Khanasor town and committed a massacre, in which 7 members of Shengal's defense forces were killed and dozens more got wounded. In response to these attacks, all the Êzidî society and Kurdistan people voiced reaction and staged marches. In this scope, our people that had migrated to Rojava wanted to go to Khanasor on March 7, but they faced with the attack of KDP forces with water cannons and arms as they were obstructed from entering Khanasor. On March 14, Êzidîs in Hesekê and people from Rojava, accompanied by our people in Shengal, similarly wanted to stage a democratic and peaceful march to Khanasor.

These people, unarmed, started their march without manifesting any unfavorable attitude. Gangs whose faces were covered with masks and who were especially mobilized to counter the crowd, attacked the people joining the march and fired upon them. As result of this attack, 21 years old Nazê Nayif Qewal lost her life and 15 people of ours got injured. In response to these attacks, we promise Qewal and our people that we will not allow these occupant groups to invade Shengal, whatever the cost may be.

These attacks and mass killings in Shengal are a part of the policies pursued against this region. AKP and KDP want to sacrifice Shengal for the sake of their policies. As the Administration of Shengal, we will never accept these policies.

Our mothers with their white scarves, a symbol of peace, tried to show the way to solution. However, the assailants that did not get their share of humanity, covered this symbol of peace with blood.

Those who left the women of Shengal into the hands of ISIS on August 2, 2014 have now shamelessly turned their guns toward our women, children and religious scholars. These dark forces are afraid of the stance of Êzîdxan women that revealed itself in the person of Nazê Naîf Qewal. The reaction against the attacks on Êzidîs and Shengal, and the effort to protect these is a quite humane, moral and conscientious attitude. We, Êzidî society have been through massacres due to our faith, and we were not protected. For this very reason, our declaration of will is a human duty. KDP and their collaborators should avoid using us as an instrument for their dirty policies. KDP's policy against the Êzidîs does not contribute to Kurdish unity. The approach towards Êzidîs should be a moral and historic one observing international criteria. For this reason, use of violence against such demonstrations is an inhumane approach.

On the other hand, those attacking and killing civilians in Khanasor seek to create an excuse to justify their attacks and to launch further attacks. For this reason, we view the statement of Kurdistan Regional Government's Interior Minister and some media organs as acts that reverse the truths and mean to deceive the public and cover up the attacks in order to justify the massacres.

Despite the fact that these barbaric attacks have resulted in casualties, they claim through the media that we attacked them. We urge them to see the footage recorded by free press that reveal everything as it is.

As the Administration of Shengal, we see it a humane duty to inform the world public opinion and all the people correctly. The perpetrators and reasons of this massacre are blatantly obvious. These gang groups, KDP and AKP will be responsible for probable massacres to be perpetrated from now on. We will continue our democratic and peaceful demonstrations until these gang groups leave our lands. We emphasise once again that not us but the KDP administration will be responsible for the incidents to take place henceforward.

We call on our people and all the public opinion to stand with Êzîdxan and manifest their attitude clearly. We also call upon our Êzidî people and all the peoples living in Nineveh to take to the streets and oppose these gang groups, and to form a human shield around Shengal."