Shengal Administration made a statement to the press in Khanasor and shared its demands with the national and international public.

YJŞ (Shengal Women’s Units) commander Melîs Emer Salih, YBŞ (Shengal Resistance Units) commander Seîd Hisên Seîd, PADÊ (Êzidî Freedom and Democracy Party)President Qehtan Elî Osman, Shengal Constituent Assembly President Xidir Salih, Êzidxane Asayish administrator Faris Herbo Xidir, TAJÊ (Free Êzidî Women’s Movement) administrator Kurdê Elî Ezîz and Shengal Youth Assembly administrator Brahîm Emer Îdo attended the press briefing.

Below is the full text of the press release:

“Thousands of Êzidîs lost their lives and thousands more were kidnapped in the genocide in 2014. Êzidî people were therefore forced to leave their lands. Sacred places were destroyed, Êzidî lands were pillaged. The world silently watched this genocide perpetrated in the 21st century. We did not receive any aid from national or international powers.

As representatives of Mount Shengal Resistance, we declare our demands to the national and international public on behalf of the Shengal Administration Transition Commission. Below are our demands:

1. We view ISIS’ entrance into Mosul province and Iraq as a conspiracy. We believe that this aimed the creation of a Sunni zone in the region.

2. KDP has become a party of this conspiracy particularly in Êzidî territory because its forces left without a fight when ISIS came. The EU has documented this issue in its June 2016 report.

3. Êzidî people were faced with ISIS gangs because of this retreat.

4. On August 5, 2014 Peoples’ Defense Forces General Commander Murat Karayılan stated that their forces would help and protect the Êzidîs.

5. No side made any declarations such as ‘We will not accept the PKK’ or ‘We reject the PKK’ back then, but the KDP that turned its back on Êzidîs and the Turkish army that has bombed Mount Shengal now say that the PKK should leave Shengal. These attacks aim to intimidate civilians and make them flee from Shengal.

6. Barzani forces’ attack on Khanasor on March 3, 2017 aimed to finalize the August 3 massacre and seize the northern side of Mount Shengal.

7. As Êzidî representatives, we have been fighting ISIS under the most challenging circumstances, regardless of hunger and thirst for three years now. Hundreds of us fell as martyrs as we neutralized thousands of ISIS members. Our forces liberated the larger part of Shengal. We will not allow anyone affiliated with Barzani that prioritize their own interests over the people’s interests to speak and portray themselves as representatives of the Êzidîs.

8. Once again, we state that hundreds of thousands of our people of ours would have died if PKK guerillas had not come to the rescue of Êzidî people. PKK only acted for humanity in its defense of the Êzidî people because nobody else came to our help as other forces turned their back on us.

9. We ask the US, Russia and the UN International Security Council to not take Barzani-Erdoğan’s discourse of ‘PKK should leave Shengal’ seriously. In order to demand that the PKK leaves Shengal, you must first organize and employ an international force that will protect the Êzidî people in Shengal because we no longer trust the peshmerga forces. ISIS gangs attacked us when those forces were in Shengal, and they did not resist nor protect us. We also demand that rights of the Êzidî people be secured and Shengal Autonomous Government become a province of the Iraqi Federal Government.

10. As representatives of the Mount Shengal Resistance, we ask that you establish relations with us within the framework we highlighted above, and exchange ideas on these matters We are not bound to talks with other circles, and will not abide by the decisions made there. The resisting people should make the decisions.

11. PKK could retreat from Shengal if an international force comes into play so that another massacre does not happen. Only then, we the Representatives of Resistance could tell the PKK ‘you made great sacrifices and fulfilled the duty of humanity, we thank you and ask you to leave.’

12. We ask the Iraqi Government to not talk with the Kurdistan Regional Government officials on topics that relate to the Êzidîs. We also ask the Iraqi Government to make Barzani’s peshmergas retreat from Shengal because we no longer trust them. They turned their back on us on August 3, 2014 and massacred our children on March 3, 2017. Peshmerga forces are responsible for the defense of Kurdistan region. Êzidî region is not part of that territory. We trust that our people can defend their land if our defense forces YBŞ and YJŞ are supported.

13- We ask the Iraqi Government to sign the Hague Convention and prosecute those responsible for the massacre against the Êzidî people. Morover, we demand that the 73rd massacre be recognized as genocide and relations with the Êzidî people be developed on this basis.”