The march with torches the Yazidi Youth Union (Yekîtîya Cîwanên Êzidî-YCÊ) started on Thursday night continued today with mass participation. The youth marched for hours from the Amûd region to the Serdesht camp as part of the memorial activities on the anniversary of the genocidal attacks by ISIS gangs, and arrived in the camp by early morning.

The Yazidi Democracy and Freedom Party (PADÊ), Ezidxan Women’s Freedom Movement (TAJÊ), Yazidi Youth Union (YCÊ), Shengal Constituent Assembly officials, Yazidis in the Serdesht camp, HDP Batman MP Feleknas Uca, Bêt Nahrên (“Mesopotamia” in Syriac) Party Officer Yusuf Yakup and Syriac, Assyrian and Chaldean committees from Northern Syria and Mosul were present in the event held there.

The crowd held banners that read “We won’t forget the genocide” and “We will avenge the genocide with the organized Yazidi youth and their fight” and marched in corteges.

Women and children rescued from ISIS, people with relatives still captive, former migrants who returned to Shengal were at the forefront of the march.

Security was ensured by YBŞ, YJŞ and Asayish forces.

The people carried photographs of women and children who were abducted during the massacre, as well as Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan, and flags of YBŞ and YJŞ, and chanted “Bimre îxanet” (“Down with treason”) and “Bijî Serok Apo” while voicing opposition to the KDP.

When the crowd reached the Shengal Democratic Autonomous Assembly campus, a minute’s silence was held for the people who lost their lives in the massacre. Later, in a speech in the name of PADÊ, the speaker said Yazidis are a free people now and are ready to live together with others.

HDP Batman MP Felaknas Uca gave a speech in the name of DTK, DBP and HDP and said the people of Shengal are not alone, that the four parts of Kurdistan stand with Yazidis. Uca said the Yazidis, having suffered 73 genocides in history, haven’t bowed down and will never forget the inhumane practices of ISIS. Uca added that they will fight until the captive women and children are rescued.

Uca also stressed that the Yazidis need to achieve unity: “We have had many attempts for the recognition of this genocide, but the answers were negative. The whole world stayed silent and turned a blind eye to the genocide. Only we can protect each other. For that, we must increase our unity and our fight. We won’t stop until we rescue all our women from them.”

Bêt Nahrên Party Officer Yusuf Yakup said they are no strangers to the suffering of the Yazidi people and added that the Syriac people have been suffering massacres for millennia as well.

Yakup said: “On the day of the genocide, a Yazidi friend of mine called me and said they were surrounded. He said they were suffering a genocide and asked me to let the world know. So I made calls and spoke about the matter. When we told an official from the UN, they said they weren’t interested. That shows that the whole world turned a blind eye to this genocide. We couldn’t make it in time for our brothers and sisters, but now we have the opportunity to come together. Now we will stand together so such events never transpire.”

After speeches, the Shengal General Assembly was declared with representatives from Yazidis, Syriacs, Assyrians, Chaldeans and the Shia Arab people who live in the region.