Qubad Talabani: Steps to heal Shingal wound are still inadequate

Qubad Talabani, deputy PM of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said in a statement on the 7th anniversary of the Shingal Genocide that the steps to heal this wound are not at the required level yet.

Talabani's statement said: 

August 3rd marks the 7th anniversary of the Sinjar massacre and the Yazidi Genocide. The commemoration of this heinous, inhumane crime should encourage us to prevent the repetition of mass killings, enslaving, and ethnic cleansing based on faith, identity and race. Regrettably, the steps taken toward healing of this deep wound are still inadequate, we will support all the local and international efforts, which will help the Yazidi community to return to a normal life, and moreover we call on the Iraqi state and the international community to recognize these crimes as an act of genocide.

ISIS attack on Shingal

On August 3rd, 2014, ISIS terrorists launched a vicious attack on Shingal (Sinjar), the mainland of the Yazidis, and a disputed town in northern Iraq, killing thousands of Yazidi men and abducting women and children to later be forced into slavery.

The attack also led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of members of the community. Most of them fled to the Kurdistan Region, while others resettled to neighboring countries in the region or Western states.

Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone, where they later went through horrific atrocities and mass executions at the hands of the extremist group for years. ISIS militants forced women and girls into sexual slavery, kidnapped their children, forced religious conversions, executed scores of men, and abused, sold, and trafficked women and girls across the areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria.

According to the United Nations, 5,000 Yazidi men died in the massacre. The terrorists have also kidnapped thousands of Yazidi women and teenage girls.

According to the KRG, the terrorists kidnapped more than 6,400 Yazidis, but only half of them managed to escape or survive, while the fate of the rest is still unknown.

ISIS gained control of one-third of Iraq in 2014 until 2017 when Iraq announced regaining control of Nineveh, Anbar, Saladin, and parts of Kirkuk and Diyala. 



PUKmedia