Shengal Administration calls on Baghdad to apologize, release captures

In a statement, the administration denounced the actions of the Iraqi army in Shengal and called on the government to stop sacrificing the Yazidi people for its power and interests. It also demanded an apology to the Yazidi community and the Shengal Resistance Units, as well as the immediate release of the captured fighters.

The statement read as follows:

"The Yazidi people and religion in the mountains of Sinjar (Shengal) are among the oldest peoples and religions on this land. Despite enduring dozens of massacres and acts of genocide, the strength of their roots has allowed them to survive to this day.

After the fall of Saddam’s dictatorial regime, we believed that the new state would be able to put an end to the oppression and injustice suffered by the Iraqi and Yazidi people.

Our community has shown no hostility toward the government or attempted to create problems against it. On the contrary, we have worked for this country and served in the army. However, after our community faced genocide at the hands of terrorists in 2007, it became clear to us that this state and the Peshmerga forces affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party were incapable of protecting us.

After the attack, it was the Iraqi government’s duty to hold the perpetrators accountable, but nothing of the sort has been done to this day. The same applies to the genocide we suffered in 2014, neither the state nor the Peshmerga forces were able to protect our people. They abandoned us to the hands of ISIS.

However, with the help of freedom fighters, Shengal and the Yazidis were able to establish their own military forces and liberate themselves from ISIS. It is fair to say that the liberation of Shengal played a crucial role in defeating ISIS. This allowed the Iraqi state to begin its fight against ISIS and liberate Iraq from its grip. Despite these realities, we have not rejected the presence of the Iraqi state in Shengal. However, we see that the state has ignored all these facts. In particular, the October 9, 2022, agreement was a historical betrayal of the Yazidi people, as it aimed to return the Yazidis to their pre-2014 state, stripped of their protective and organizational forces. This, in turn, opens the door to further massacres and genocides.

Recently, on March 18, Iraqi government forces set an ambush for the YBŞ forces in the center of Shengal. The Iraqi forces brutally attacked five members of the Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ), injuring them and then capturing them. Following the attack, the Iraqi state began to consider the Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) as an illegal force, instead of acknowledging the sacrifices these fighters made in liberating the Yazidi people from terrorism and saving them from massacres and genocide.

We see these actions as a lack of understanding and an attempt to implement the October 9 agreement. Therefore, the Iraqi government and its allies must stop sacrificing the Yazidi people for their power and interests, using them as a bargaining chip.

We, the People's Council of Shengal, strongly condemn the actions of the Iraqi state’s military forces. The Iraqi government must apologize to the Yazidi people and the Shengal Resistance Units and immediately release the captured fighters and the wounded."

A-H

ANHA