What happened to Şengal on March 3, 2017?

Since April 25, 2017, Şengal district has been subjected to air attacks carried out by the Turkish occupation state, which resulted in the martyrdom of many members of the Yazidi community and prominent leaders of the Yazidi organization. The last of these attacks, on March 29, targeted the car of the Martyrs’ Families Council in Şengal and resulted in the martyrdom of the driver, Saadoun Mirza.

However, before Şengal was subjected to the first direct attack by Turkish occupation aircraft, the Peshmerga “Leşkerê Roj” and the Zirvani forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party launched an attack shortly before that on the Khansur district on March 3, 2017, which resulted in the martyrdom of 7 fighters from the Şengal Resistance Units (YBŞ), Ezidkhan Asayish, and fighters from the People's Defense Forces (HPG) while the journalist Nojian Arhan was martyred on March 22.

How did the attack happen?

In the dawn hours of March 3, 2017, clashes broke out between the Şengal Resistance Units on the one hand and the Peshmerga “Leşkerê Roj” and the Zirvani forces of the Kurdistan Democratic Party on the other hand, in the vicinity of the Khansur district of Şengal .

In these clashes, the Şengal Resistance Units exercised their right to self-defense against the attack launched by the Kurdistan Democratic Forces. How did the attack begin and what happened that day and after?

In the noon hours of Thursday, March 2, 2017, members of Peshmerga “Leşkerê Roj” tried to enter the Khansur district and take control of some areas there, which had been under the protection of the Şengal Resistance Units since 2014, after the attacks launched by ISIS mercenaries on Şengal.

They brought in large military reinforcements, which included armor, heavy weapons, and hundreds of members. This came a few days after the visit of Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party to Ankara.

YBŞ issued a statement about what Khansur witnessed at the time and said: “The so-called Roj Peshmerga in Khansur are carrying out provocations and trying to penetrate the area that we control after we liberated it from the grip of ISIS in the fall of 2014.”

After the statement, the mothers and members of the Yazidi community in Şengal went to the front line, and demanded their departure from the vicinity of Khansur, the Kurdistan Democratic Forces directed their weapons towards the people of Şengal.

They started using live bullets, so the Şengal Resistance Units were forced to intervene in self-defense, and as a result, clashes broke out, in which KDP forces used heavy weapons, and they began directly bombing homes in Khansur.

People's Defense Forces fighters tried to stop the attacks, and the two fighters, Orhan and Çekdar, stood in front of a Peshmerga armored vehicle, isolated from their weapons, but they were exposed to gunfire that led to their martyrdom.

As a result of the violent clashes, 6 fighters from the Şengal Resistance Units, a member of Ezidkhan Asayish, and People's Defense fighters were martyred, in addition to the injury of journalist Nojian Arhan, who was martyred on March 22.

The Media Center of the People's Defense Forces (HPG), for its part, issued a statement in which it said: “Clashes broke out on Friday, March 3, in the Khansur area in Şengal, following attacks launched by mercenaries calling themselves the Leşkerê Roj on the Şengal Resistance Units (..) Our forces defending Şengal moved to stand up to those provocations that targeted the people of the region, it sent one of its units to prevent any conflict from occurring, but our fighting unit was attacked and two fighters were martyred in that attack.”

On March 14, thousands of people of Şengal gathered in front of the headquarters of the Yazidi Freedom and Democracy Party in Khansur, and headed to the attackers’ trenches to condemn their attacks. Their forces responded to them by firing live bullets, which resulted in the martyrdom of the member of the Yazidi Women’s Freedom Movement, Nazi Nayef, and the wounding of two Yazidis.

The KDP forces were forced to retreat from their attempt to control Khansur, but they did not stop trying to penetrate Şengal after fleeing from it on August 3, 2014, in front of ISIS mercenaries who committed massacres against the Yazidis. They kidnapped thousands of women.

Many incursion attempts also failed thanks to the resistance against them, so with the failure of the Kurdistan Democratic Party to implement the policies of the Turkish occupation state in Şengal, Turkish warplanes launched the first direct air attack on Şengal district, shortly after the Khansur attack.

The aerial bombardment on various areas in Şengal, which resulted in the martyrdom of a citizen, the injury of a fighter from the Şengal Resistance Units, and the complete collapse of the ÇIRA radio building, coincided with the bombing of the headquarters of the General Command of the People’s Protection Units on April 25, 2017 in Qaraçox, NE Syria, which resulted in martyrdom 20 male and female fighters.

Meetings were also held between Kurdistan Democratic Party officials and Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials in Ankara, and it became clear that the attacks on Khansur came after this meeting, as the Turkish Prime Minister’s aide, Vaysi Kaynak, stated at the time, saying: “If the Peshmerga are unable to get them out of there, we will get them out.” .

With the failure of the Turkish occupation attacks on Şengal and the attempts to empty Şengal of its people, both the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Iraqi government announced, during the period of Mustafa al-Kadthimy’s presidency of the Ministers Council, and under Turkish dictation, the Şengal Agreement on October 9, 2020.

The agreement, which was signed under the name of regulating security and administrative matters in Şengal, was considered by the people of Şengal to be “a Farman in the name of law.” Although 3 years have passed since its signing, it has not been implemented in practice thanks to the resistance against it.

a.k

ANHA