SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Co-leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Bafel Talabani said Yazidis are an important component of the Kurdistan Region, as they celebrate their New Year, known as Chwarshama Sur or Red Wednesday.
In a statement, Talabani extended his congratulation to Yazidis in the Kurdistan Region and the world, hoping it will be a “happy feast” for them.
“Yazidi Kurds are an important and effective component of Kurdistan and our country is more beautiful and multicolored with them,” Talabani said on Tuesday.
“We have not forgotten about sorrows and suffering of our Yazidi brothers and sisters. We know that they have been oppressed in the past, and they have made a lot of sacrifices,” he added.
“It is our responsibility to intensify efforts to provide a decent and prosperous life to our Yazidi brothers and sisters and take serious steps to return our loved ones whose fate is still unknown.”
The PUK co-leader also expressed his support for their demands.
Islamic State (ISIS) overran the Yazidi faith’s heartland of Sinjar in northern Iraq in 2014, forcing young women into servitude as “wives” for its fighters and massacring men and older women.
The militants shot, beheaded, burned alive or kidnapped more than 9,000 members of the minority religion, in what the United Nations has called a genocidal campaign against them. According to community leaders, more than 3,000 Yazidis remain unaccounted for.
Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in a statement that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) recognizes “the struggles of the Yazidi people and their just demands and will maintain efforts to provide a better quality of life.”
“Our government continues to work on assisting a safe and dignified return home for thousands of displaced people, and is contributing to the reconstruction of their areas along with the Iraqi government and the international community,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We are also hopeful to see a new push for peace and stability with the implementation of the Sinjar Agreement and the withdrawal of militias and illegal armed forces from the city. The security of the people remains our priority in this new year.”
Kurdish officials say a deal reached between Erbil and Baghdad in October 2020 to normalize the governance and security situation in Sinjar have not been implemented.
Under the deal, all armed groups should leave Sinjar and allow the Iraqi security forces to take control of the district.
On February 14, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said there were no armed groups in Sinjar and that the Iraqi forces were in control of the district.
