Iraq
Mir Hazim Tahsin, the prince of Yazidis speaking at MERI Forum in Erbil on November 2, 2022. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Yazidi Leader Mir Hazim Tahsin on Wednesday called on the Iraqi government to invest in Shingal town to pave the way for the return of people who have fled their homes due to the Islamic State (ISIS) attack.
ISIS attacked the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in 2014, killing and kidnapping thousands of people. Thousands of others fled to the Kurdistan Region and northeast Syria (Rojava).
Speaking at MERI Forum in Erbil, Mir Hazim Tahsin, the prince of the ethno-religious community, said “Our villages and cities were demolished and they have not been rebuilt and rehabilitated until now, and our families have been displaced in huge numbers in harsh conditions, and hundreds of thousands of our sons and daughters are still living in the camps.”
“Our daughters and women are still held as captives, waiting to return to their families,” he added at a panel entitled “Yazidis and Christians – Let us not Fail Them.”
He called on the Iraqi government to "invest in the infrastructure in our destroyed areas, in the fields of education and rehabilitation of youth, and enable them to serve their families and the people of Iraq as a whole."
A large number of Yazidis who were held hostage by ISIS have been rescued - thanks to an office established by the Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani.
The Yazidi leader thanked Barzani for his efforts to rescue the missing Yazidis but said more needs to be done.
Mayan Khairy Saeed Beg, Mir Hazim’s wife who is known as “Khatoon” of Yazidis, also spoke at the event.
She, too, thanked President Barzani for his role in rescuing the missing Yazidis. “No one has done for us as much as Mr. Nechirvan Barzani has done for us,” she noted. “We thank you for the Yazidis that were rescued from ISIS. Had it not been with your efforts, they would not be rescued.”
“Our people are displaced, living tents. Nothing feels safe for us. We suffered a lot and we don’t know what we should even talk about… We are calling on the Iraqi government to count us as Iraqis. The Iraqi government to this day has not counted us as Iraqis. We have suffered a lot and a lot of our people have been killed. The [Iraqi] President has never visited Yazidis to listen and learn from the Yazidis. They should count us as citizens."
She also said that numerous countries have recognized the ISIS massacre of Yazidis in 2014 as a genocide but the Iraqi government is not doing enough for them.
Najeed Mikhaeel Mousa, Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul and Akre, also spoke at the panel.
“What hurt the Yazidis hurt us too, and also what hurt the Kurds in Halabja hurt us as well. We are under one destiny - what hurts you hurts us and hurts our cause too,” he said.
Najim al-Jubouri, Governor of Nineveh, said at the panel that he cannot launch projects in Shingal city as long as people are unable to return, adding that in a place like Sinune subdistrict in Shingal a number of projects have been launched because most of the people who have returned to the area.
Erbil and Baghdad signed the Shingal Agreement in 2020 to "normalise" the situation in the city but the deal has not been implemented yet.
Jabouri said that lack of a unified stance from Baghdad on the deal and the Kurdish authorities’ insistence that the agreement should be fully implemented has hindered the process.
He complained that he was not even consulted for the agreement, adding that he was present at the event in which the deal was signed only as an “attendant.”
Shingal has been suffering from insecurity due to the presence of several armed groups. Turkey often targets the forces affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Shingal.
“Shingal is an arena for international conflicts,” the governor said at the event.
Ali Ilyas, the Yazidi Baba Sheikh (spiritual leader), talked about their religion.
"There are many holy things in our religion. I wish we had more time so that I can explain all of them. Humanity is another one of them," he said.
He added that their religion also has "many virtues, rule of ethnicities, religions, and nations, and every person worships God in his language and in his identity no matter what background you come from."
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