Kurdish leaders commemorate Yazidi genocide, renew calls for justice
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Kurdish leaders on Sunday marked the 12th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide committed by ISIS in Iraq’s Sinjar (Shengal) region, renewing calls to uncover the fate of missing people, ensure justice for survivors and create conditions for the safe return of displaced families.
In separate messages, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi commemorated the victims of the atrocities carried out by ISIS on Aug. 3, 2014.
Prime Minister Masrour Barzani described the massacre as “a deep wound in the history of the Kurdish people and all humanity,” reiterating the Kurdistan Regional Government’s commitment to locating missing and abducted Yazidis and supporting survivors and displaced families. He also called on the Iraqi government to fulfill its responsibilities by compensating victims and implementing the Sinjar Agreement to facilitate the return of residents.
The anniversary comes as thousands of Yazidis remain displaced more than a decade after ISIS militants overran Sinjar in northwestern Iraq, launching a campaign of killings, mass abductions, forced displacement and sexual enslavement that has since been recognized internationally as genocide.
In his message on X account in Kurdish, Mazloum Abdi stressed the need to preserve the memory of the victims and hold perpetrators accountable, while emphasizing solidarity with the Yazidi community and support for efforts to rebuild Sinjar.
Commemorations were held in camps and towns across Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where displaced Yazidis renewed calls for justice, reconstruction and the return of those still missing.
On Aug. 3, 2014, ISIS militants seized the Sinjar district, home to Iraq’s Yazidi minority. Thousands of civilians fled toward Mount Sinjar, where many became trapped without food or water.
According to United Nations estimates and international investigations, ISIS killed thousands of Yazidis and abducted more than 6,000 women and children, many of whom were subjected to slavery, forced marriage and other abuses. More than 200,000 people were displaced from the area.
Mass killings took place in several villages, including Kocho, where hundreds of men were executed and women and children were abducted. Numerous mass graves have since been discovered in Sinjar and surrounding areas.
The United Nations, the European Parliament and more than a dozen countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, have formally recognized ISIS’s crimes against the Yazidis as genocide.
Despite the liberation of Sinjar from ISIS in 2015, reconstruction has progressed slowly, while political disputes and security challenges have hindered the return of many displaced families. Thousands of Yazidis still live in camps in the Kurdistan Region, and the fate of many abductees remains unknown.