The Women’s Defence Units (YPJ) Press Spokesperson Rûken Cemal, YPJ Spokesperson Rûksen Mihemed and YPJ Public Relations Office Officer Lena Hisên made a press statement with the participation of two Yazidi women and a girl who had been kidnapped by ISIS in Shengal on 3 August 2014 and rescued by the YPJ in the Hol Camp in the Cizire region of northeastern Syria.

YPJ Spokesperson Rûksen Mihemed stated that the ISIS genocide ten years ago, the 74th mass slaughter suffered by the Yazidi community in their history, aimed to destroy the people of Shengal by distancing them from their values, social structure, culture and faith.

Rûksen Mihemed continued: "Thousands of Yazidi women and children were taken captive, sold in slave markets, and many people were massacred and buried in mass graves, robbed, raped among other atrocities imposed on our people in Shengal. Massacres reaching the level of genocide were committed against our Yazidi people. While YPJ/YPG and freedom guerrillas went to Shengal to protect our Yazidi people from genocide, the KDP peshmerga, who should have been there, left the people and the land and fled, leaving them alone to face ISIS. However, the forces that promised to protect the people and women proved themselves in protecting and saving the rest of the Yazidis. Without this protection, the genocide would have been experienced at the highest level and would have brought greater dangers."

Rûksen Mihemed noted that YPJ has been based on rescuing Yazidi women in line with its moral and historical duty and responsibility since the 2014 genocide and said: "On the 10th anniversary of the massacre, YPJ reiterates its promise to protect all peoples, especially the Yazidi people. After the 74th genocide, women's organisational and social association was initiated in Shengal. The establishment and growth of women's institutions and women's defence forces was a response that no one could destroy them. On the anniversary of the onslaught on Shengal, we reiterate our promise; together with the YPJ fighters and commanders, we will always be ready to protect all people and women. As we have stated from the beginning, we will protect the gains of our Yazidi people and women. The fate of many Yazidi women is still unclear. We will continue our struggle until we rescue the last Yazidi woman in ISIS captivity and bring them back to the holy land of Shengal.

Pointing to the invasion attacks of the Turkish state, Rûksen Mihemed concluded: "Peoples, young people, and in particular our Yazidi people should be vigilant against the plans of the invaders and strengthen their defence systems. We also call on the international community, all forces and peoples to take a stand. The deployment of ISIS gangs to Southern Kurdistan means a new genocide against the Yazidi, Christian, Arab and Turkmen peoples."