‘Kurdish people will stand with Shengal in four parts of Kurdistan’

The Democratic Society Congress (DTK), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) said “The Kurdish people will stand by the people of Shengal in four parts” in a joint statement in Amed (Diyarbakir).

DTK co-spokesperson Berdan Öztürk, HDP Foreign Relations Commission co-spokespersons Feleknas Uca and Hişyar Özsoy, DBP co-chair Saliha Aydeniz and Free Women’s Movement (TJA) activist Xecê Şen held a press statement at the DBP Headquarters in Amed regarding the genocidal attacks of the Turkish state against Shengal that have been going on for two days.

While Öztürk and Uca made speeches in Kurdish, DBP Co-Chair Saliha Aydeniz said the following:

“Today we are making this statement here to condemn the intense attacks carried out by the Turkish state against Shengal for the last 3 days. We know very well from the barbaric massacres committed by ISIS what the people of Shengal have faced and what massacres the Yazidi people have been subjected to. We strongly condemn the brutal attack by Turkish fighter jets that bombed civilian areas and a hospital in Shengal. The people of Shengal and the Yazidis will continue to fight to build freedom against all military groups just as they struggled when ISIS attacked and sold nearly 7,000 women, children, elderly people in slave markets in 2014. The latest attacks aim to complete the massacres left unfinished by ISIS with the help of the Turkish Armed Forces and the Turkish state’s anti-Kurdish policy. We, as the people and political parties from Bakur (North Kurdistan), condemn this attack in the strongest way.

REACTION TO IRAQ AND KDP

The bombing of the hospital and civilian areas, the silence of the Iraqi Government and the Regional Government, the silence of European states and human rights institutions are an indication that they support these massacres by remaining silent against the hostility against the Kurdish people. The Yazidi people, the people of Shengal and the women of Shengal state that they will continue to fight, just as they fought against this barbarism and ISIS. We also state that we stand with the people of Shengal until they can govern themselves and gain political status. We do not consider it right that the Iraqi Government and the Southern Kurdistan Administration and the KDP do not make a statement. This indifference shows the way the people of Shengal and the Yazidis are treated. We strongly condemn this attack. We will stand with the Yazidi people to the end.

‘A DIRTY GAME’

It was known that Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi would go to Shengal for talks. As the organizations in Bakur, we planned to hold a meeting with the Shengal administration, yet it was postponed because they would meet Kadhimi. Later, these attacks ensued. The attack shows us that there is a dirty scheme in place against the people of Shengal. We condemn this and I would like to state that the Shengal people are not alone, and the Kurdish people will stand with them in four parts (of Kurdistan). We will stand by their struggle until they achieve their political status.”