A women's delegation that went to Rojava (West Kurdistan) and South Kurdistan to visit Yezidi women who suffered brutal attacks by ISIS gangs has completed its mission.

The delegation , numbering 25 women, including HDP MPs Ayla Akat Ata and Sebahat Tuncel, CHP Istanbul MP Melda Onur, Mardin Metropolitan Municipal co-mayor Februniye Akyol, KESK co-president Şaziye Köse, SES President Gönül Erden, Züleyha Gülüm  from the Women's Initiative for Peace and TTB central council member Filiz İncekara, and human rights activists, lawyers and journalists returned to North Kurdistan yesterday. During their two-day visit the women listened to the problems and needs of Yezidi women who were displaced by ISIS attacks.

The delegation first went to Rojava and then visited Zakho, Duhok, Lalesh, Hewler (Erbil) and Makhmur, seeing the Makhmur defence forces, ending their visit by going to the Saint Joseph's Monastery in Hewler to see the displaced Syriacs who have taken refuge there.

Following their visit to Makhmur,  HDP MP Ayla Akat Ata, said they were both sad and pleased. Ata said: "We have come to free Makhmur. Before we came here we said we were going to the place where the conflict is continuing." She added that they still didn't know what effect the war had had on women and children, saying: "We wanted to come here to serve the people."

She added that Shias, Turkmen, Assyrians, Syriacs and Chaldeans, as well as Yezidi Kurds, had suffered, saying: "We wanted to visit the Makhmur Defence Forces. You liberated this land under the leadership of YJA Star and HPG and then the support of the peshmerga."

Sidar Botan spoke on behalf of the Makhmur Defence Forces, saying she was pleased at the delegation's visit. She continued: "the conflict is still continuing. We see ourselves as the defence force of women and we will defend all women under attack, whether they are Kurdish, Arab, Syriac or Yezidi. For us, the principle is to struggle for women, wherever they are in the world."

The delegation visited around 2,500 Syriacs who are living at the Saint Joseph's Monastery in Hewler. The delegation will subsequently compile a report regarding their impressions and observations.