The Iraqi government has announced its intention to disarm the Yazidi security forces in the partially self-administered region of Şengal. Specifically, this refers to the YBŞ (Şengal Resistance Units), YJÊ (Şengal Women’s Units), and the Êzdîxan-Asayîş (Yazidi Security Forces).”If the fighters do not comply with the demand, the government threatened an invasion on March 10.
Furthermore, the presence of the Iraqi army in the region is to be expanded. As early as the beginning of this week, the construction of various checkpoints and bases in the region began without prior consultation with local structures.
The right of the Yazidi population for self-defense is non-negotiable!
The history of the Yazidi faith is marked by persecution, displacement, and massacres. A total of 74 genocides have been committed against the Yazidi throughout their history. The most recent of these genocides took place in 2014 in the region of Şengal – precisely the region that is now being encircled and disarmed by the Iraqi army.
At that time, both the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Regional Government fled before the terrorists of the Islamic State, leaving the population defenseless.
Thousands were murdered or abducted. Countless Yazidi women were sold into sexual slavery and tortured. Only through an offensive by the People’s Defense Units (YPG), the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party – Turkey/Kurdistan (MLKP) could the massacres be stopped and worse prevented.
The founding of the YBŞ, YJÊ, and Êzdîxan-Asayîş was the local population’s direct response to this genocide. Never again should the Yazidi people be defenseless and powerless.
The planned disarmament of these units would mean reproducing the situation of 2014. It would restore the conditions that first enabled the genocide against the Yazidi and plunge the Yazidi faith community back into a state of defenselessness.
Especially in times when the Islamic State is resurging and a former commander of the terror militia now governs Syria, the right of the Yazidi for self-defense is non-negotiable!
But it is not only the Iraqi state that threatens Şengal. Hakan Fidan, Foreign Minister of the fascist Turkish state, also demands the complete dissolution of the self-administration structures in the region. In an interview, he said: “This matter (referring to the Kurdish freedom movement) also has an Iraqi component. After the Syrian component (referring to the Rojava Revolution) comes the Iraqi component. Hopefully, they will learn from the experiences here and make a wiser decision so that the transition there proceeds more smoothly.”
With barely veiled threats like this, the Turkish state once again makes it clear that its goal is the total destruction of all achievements of the Kurdish people. It is interested neither in peace nor in compromises, but only in the unconditional capitulation of the Kurdish liberation movement and the assimilation of the Kurdish people.
We call on all progressive forces in the region and beyond to resolutely oppose this plan!
As People’s Bridge, we most strongly condemn the military encirclement of Şengal as well as the blatant interference in the right for self-determination of the Yazidi faith community and express our explicit solidarity with the Yazidi population!
The demanded disarmament of the security forces in Şengal opens the door to another genocide. We call on all progressive forces in the region and beyond to resolutely oppose this plan, support the legitimate demands of the Yazidi, and ensure that the self-administration of Şengal – as a practical lesson drawn from 74 genocides – is immediately recognized internationally along with its defense units.
