TEV-DEM issued a statement to mark the 7th anniversary of the Islamic State attacks against Shengal. “ISIS carried out a massacre against the Yazidis 7 years ago on 3 August 2014,” said the statement, adding that “the massacre was carried out in an organized manner with the support of local and international forces. Its aim was to destroy the culture and history of the Yazidi people. The Yazidi community was subjected to terror and massacre.”

TEV-DEM added: “Backed by the fascist Turkish state, ISIS carried out massacres against thousands of Yazidis, kidnapped women, young people and children, and took them to unknown places. Many still remain missing. Everything was done before the Baghdad government and the KDP’s very eyes.

The agreement signed between the governments of Baghdad and Hewlêr on 9 October 2020, is a new conspiracy against the Shengal administration to continue the massacre and terror against the Yazidi community. Instead of this alliance, they should have supported the Yazidi community to save the Yazidi women and to help refugees to return to Shengal. However, the KDP continues its dirty policies and blocks all attempts to establish a peaceful dialogue between Baghdad and the Shengal Democratic Autonomous Administration.”

The statement recalled that “7 years have passed since the Yazidi massacre. The embargo on Shengal and the attacks of the invading Turkish state with drones further make the lives of the Yazidi people difficult. What is most dangerous is the silence of the international community towards these practices.

The Kurdish people and the Yazidi community and non-governmental organizations should expand their struggle for the recognition of the Shengal Democratic Autonomous Administration by taking a stand against genocide.”