In a written statement, Yüksel Mutlu, Deputy Co-Chair of the DEM Party responsible for the Peoples and Beliefs Commission, stated that the attack carried out by ISIS gangs against the Yazidi people in Shengal on August 3, 2014, “was etched into human history as a dark stain.”
The statement read: “During this atrocity, more than 5,000 Yazidis were massacred, thousands were abducted; women and children were enslaved and subjected to systematic torture. Despite 11 years having passed, over a thousand Yazidi women and children are still missing, and their fate remains unknown. Although some international institutions and states have recognized these attacks as genocide, the international public has yet to form a comprehensive and binding recognition of it.”
Warning that Shengal was still under threat, the DEM Party stated: “We condemn the genocide committed against the Yazidi people and once again remember those we lost with deep sorrow. We strongly affirm our support for the ancient Yazidi people’s struggle for justice, truth, and freedom.
We call on the international community and the Turkish state to recognize this genocide against the Yazidi people, to respect the will of the people of Shengal, to initiate the necessary efforts to locate the missing persons, and to take responsibility so that the Yazidis can live freely and safely in their own lands.”
The statement added: “Those who enslaved women and children, those who marketed darkness, have been written into the shameful pages of history. Confronting this darkness is not only a responsibility of the past, but also of the present and the future. To ensure the future does not remain in darkness, it is our collective duty today to amplify the voice of justice, strengthen memory, and join in the Yazidis’ resistance.”