For the past twelve days, a vigil outside the office of the local Yazidi security forces in Shengal has protested the agreement involving the dissolution of autonomous self-governing structures. The Iraqi interior minister has arrived in the region.
For the past twelve days, a vigil has been held in front of the office of the Yazidi security forces in Shengal to prevent the dissolution of the self-established Êzîdxan Asayîş and to protest the agreement reached in Baghdad between the Iraqi government and the South Kurdistan’s ruling party KDP. The protest tent is visited by local people and new groups keep taking over the action. Today, a group from Khanasor (Xanêsor) came to take over the vigil.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanmi arrived in Shengal with a delegation. The delegation is also expected to visit the vigil.
The people are demanding recognition of the Shengal autonomous administration, including the Yazidi security forces. No concession has yet been made at the Iraqi government level.
Yazidis do not want to leave their protection to outside forces
On October 9, South Kurdistan’s ruling party KDP and the Iraqi central government agreed to take control of the Shengal region and disband all self-defense forces. In 2014, the HPG guerrillas alone, and later the YPG and YPJ from Rojava, had defended Shengal against ISIS and helped establish their own self-defense forces and democratic self-government in the region. In 2018, the HPG withdrew from the region after completing this task. Shengal has been protecting itself ever since, and the people there are no longer willing to leave their security and administration to outside forces in light of 74 massacres in Yazidi history.
