MAINZ, Germany – Thousands of Kurds and others staged rallies in Europe on the first anniversary of the fall of Shingal to the Islamic State (ISIS) group on Monday, calling for liberation of the city that used to be the center of Iraq’s Yazidi Kurds.
At rallies across Germany and in Switzerland and France, demonstrators said they had showed up to show their support for Kurdish forces and for the Yazidis.
“There are still many regions of Kurdistan under the barbaric rule of ISIS. The least I can do is to be here and support my people,” said Volkan Gedik, a 28-year-old student in the German city of Dortmund.
Gedik, from Northern Kurdistan in Turkey, said that the murderous campaign by ISIS against the Kurds must gain greater global recognition.
“What happened to them is definitely a Genocide and it has to be recognized as such,” he said.
On August 3, 2014, hordes of ISIS fighters invaded Shingal, killed countless Yazidi Kurds and abducted thousands of their girls, who later were sold as slaves in ISIS-owned slave markets. Many girls are still missing.
“Many Yazidis, even people in my own family, feel abandoned by Kurds of other beliefs. Many don’t feel Kurdish anymore,” said 45-year-old Ihsan Duhoki at a rally in the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday.
“We Yazidis are Kurds and we always will be. However, we have to make clear that we want equal rights in Kurdish society and we want equal protection. I hope the government in Hewlêr (Erbil) will liberate Shingal soon!” Duhoki added.
Kurdish troops from different factions have been fighting on the outskirts of Shingal for a year, trying to liberate the Kurdish city from ISIS control.
In addition to the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Region, several hundred fighters of the Syrian Kurdish YPG also have been fighting alongside to evict ISIS.
In a speech on the Shingal anniversary, Kurdistan Region President vowed that the town would be freed soon.
“Nothing hurt me as much as the catastrophe that befell the Yazidi Kurds,” Barzani said at a ceremony televised by Rudaw.
“I promise, God willing, that we will liberate Shingal very soon. Shingal is located in area distant from the Kurdistan region and the enemy has benefited from this distance which has kept us from liberating the area," he said.
Kurds and others at a rally in Berlin on Monday came out to show their support for Shingal.
“I am here in Berlin today to show my support to all people in Kurdistan. I want every government in Europe to know that we are not any fanatics,” said Kurdish student Rangin Dogramci, who was born in Istanbul.
“The Kurds need weapons and other essential supplies to save their lives, not to attack any other nation,” she added. “Other countries should do like Germany and supply the Kurdish government directly. Our people need those weapons to survive! This isn’t about moral issues of arms sales, it is about surviving!”
Germany has been among countries directly supplying the Kurdistan Region with arms, breaking ranks with coalition partner the United States, which insists on deliveries through the central government in Baghdad. The Kurds complain of delays and consignments not delivered.
“I know that the Yazidis had to experience atrocities we can’t even imagine,” said Maryam Talib in Strasbourg, whose Christian-Kurdish family had to flee Mosul after the ISIS takeover.
“We need a unified and independent Kurdistan, a tolerant country with space for everyone, no matter which religion you have,” she said. “And I really hope the international community will increase its support. I am here to demand more support from the international community to liberate and secure Shingal, Mosul and all of Kurdistan.”
