The Shengal Autonomous Administration made a statement in front of the Khanasor Community building in response to the Iraqi government’s decision to collect weapons in Yazidi villages and communities. The statement was read by Xelef Sincar, a member of the Shengal Democratic Autonomous Council, who called upon the Iraqi Prime Minister and the Nineveh Operations Command to revoke the decision to conduct “weapons searches” in Yazidi areas.
Referring to the 3 August 2014 massacre, the Autonomous Administration stated: “During the critical days when we were subjected to a massacre in 2014, we saw no one around us. We had only our community and our weapons. Depriving the Yazidi community of its weapons means the continuation of massacres. Issues must be resolved through dialogue rather than military pressure.”
‘We are part of Iraq’
The statement emphasized that the people of Shengal have never separated themselves from Iraqi territory: “The Yazidi youth, both men and women, are ready to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Iraqi army against terrorism and to defend the country’s land. Iraq must not remain under the influence of foreign states, nor threaten Shengal in order to appease them. Instead, Iraq should defend its borders against those who threaten the Shengal region.”
The Shengal Autonomous Administration stressed that such decisions do not serve Iraq’s stability at a time when the Middle East is going through an extremely sensitive period.
The statement concluded with the slogan: “Long live the resistance of Shengal.”
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