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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The remains of 104 Yazidis killed during the Islamic State (ISIS) group's genocide against the ethno-religious minority in 2014 were returned to Shingal's Kocho village for burial on Saturday after being identified.
The bodies were exhumed from mass graves last year with the coordination of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL (UNITAD). They were subsequently sent to Baghdad for identification.
A commemoration ceremony was held in Baghdad on Thursday, attended by top Iraqi officials.
The remains were moved to Shingal district’s Kocho village on Saturday for burial. The families of the 104 victims, Iraqi and Kurdish officials, international organizations, as well as Nobel Laureate and Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad attended the ceremony.
“Six and half years ago, they were not protected and their dignity harmed by Daesh [ISIS],” Murad said in a speech at the ceremony, blaming Iraqi and Kurdish security forces for failing to protect Yazidis in the face of ISIS attack in summer 2014.
She added that Shingal has been turned into an area rife with “political conflict,” referring to the presence of several armed groups in the district for years. Although Erbil and Baghdad have reached a deal to “normalize” the situation and replace armed militia groups with federal police, some armed groups have not left.
Kocho was the site of one of the worst atrocities committed against the community, with nearly all the village’s boys and men shot dead, and the young women and girls sold into slavery, including Murad.
“The return of the remains of our loved sisters and brother to their hometown means turning another sad page of a bitter history which is full of the suffering of our Yazidi brothers and sisters, who have been subjected to tens of genocides for defending and preserving themselves, their religion, culture and language,” Nawzad Hadi, an advisor to President Nechirvan Barzani, read out on behalf of the president during the ceremony.
“We assure our Yazidi sisters and brothers that we will do our best and continue working with Iraqi and international partners to make sure the Yazidi religion is preserved forever,” he added.
“We will also do our best and work on turning Shingal into a governorate. We will work with Iraq and the international community to coordinate and cooperate so that such a catastrophe does not repeat against Yazidis or other ethic and religious groups.”
Barzani has established an office for finding and liberating the missing Yazidis. He said in his statement that out of 6,417 missing Yazidis, 3,543 have been released from captivity, while the fate of the rest is still unknown, promising to continue searching for the missing one until all are liberated.
He thanked Masoud Barzani, former president of Kurdistan Region and current leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and Peshmerga forces for “liberating Shingal and the surrounding areas.”
Karim Khan, head of UNITAD, told Rudaw’s Nasir Ali that they are working with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, as well as other parties in order to “make sure that people, survivors, have the right to have this moment to bury their loved ones in accordance with their religious and cultural practices.”
“What has happened to us is unprecedented in history,” said one of the relatives of the victims who attended the ceremony.
“Although we are deeply concerned about what happened, this event is good in that they are being buried as per Yazidi procedures,” said another one who had lost family members, asking for the exhumation of the rest of the victims in Shingal mass graves.
Said Jardo Mato, a prominent figure in the Yazidi community in Duhok, told Rudaw’s Rozhan Abubakir that finding the remains of the victims “badly impacts the psyche of every Yazidi,” adding that Yazidis did not expect such a mass killing to occur, believing they would be protected by security forces.
103 of the victims are from Kocho except for one, Said Jardo Mato, who is from Dahola village in Shingal, said his son, Jasim.
“After the ceremony ends, we will move my father to Sharfadin Temple for burial,” he told Rudaw’s Tahsin Qasim at the ceremony. His father died on August 5, 2014.
The bodies were exhumed from mass graves last year with the coordination of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL (UNITAD). They were subsequently sent to Baghdad for identification.
A commemoration ceremony was held in Baghdad on Thursday, attended by top Iraqi officials.
The remains were moved to Shingal district’s Kocho village on Saturday for burial. The families of the 104 victims, Iraqi and Kurdish officials, international organizations, as well as Nobel Laureate and Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad attended the ceremony.
“Six and half years ago, they were not protected and their dignity harmed by Daesh [ISIS],” Murad said in a speech at the ceremony, blaming Iraqi and Kurdish security forces for failing to protect Yazidis in the face of ISIS attack in summer 2014.
She added that Shingal has been turned into an area rife with “political conflict,” referring to the presence of several armed groups in the district for years. Although Erbil and Baghdad have reached a deal to “normalize” the situation and replace armed militia groups with federal police, some armed groups have not left.
Kocho was the site of one of the worst atrocities committed against the community, with nearly all the village’s boys and men shot dead, and the young women and girls sold into slavery, including Murad.
“The return of the remains of our loved sisters and brother to their hometown means turning another sad page of a bitter history which is full of the suffering of our Yazidi brothers and sisters, who have been subjected to tens of genocides for defending and preserving themselves, their religion, culture and language,” Nawzad Hadi, an advisor to President Nechirvan Barzani, read out on behalf of the president during the ceremony.
“We assure our Yazidi sisters and brothers that we will do our best and continue working with Iraqi and international partners to make sure the Yazidi religion is preserved forever,” he added.
“We will also do our best and work on turning Shingal into a governorate. We will work with Iraq and the international community to coordinate and cooperate so that such a catastrophe does not repeat against Yazidis or other ethic and religious groups.”
Barzani has established an office for finding and liberating the missing Yazidis. He said in his statement that out of 6,417 missing Yazidis, 3,543 have been released from captivity, while the fate of the rest is still unknown, promising to continue searching for the missing one until all are liberated.
He thanked Masoud Barzani, former president of Kurdistan Region and current leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and Peshmerga forces for “liberating Shingal and the surrounding areas.”
Karim Khan, head of UNITAD, told Rudaw’s Nasir Ali that they are working with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities, as well as other parties in order to “make sure that people, survivors, have the right to have this moment to bury their loved ones in accordance with their religious and cultural practices.”
“What has happened to us is unprecedented in history,” said one of the relatives of the victims who attended the ceremony.
“Although we are deeply concerned about what happened, this event is good in that they are being buried as per Yazidi procedures,” said another one who had lost family members, asking for the exhumation of the rest of the victims in Shingal mass graves.
Said Jardo Mato, a prominent figure in the Yazidi community in Duhok, told Rudaw’s Rozhan Abubakir that finding the remains of the victims “badly impacts the psyche of every Yazidi,” adding that Yazidis did not expect such a mass killing to occur, believing they would be protected by security forces.
103 of the victims are from Kocho except for one, Said Jardo Mato, who is from Dahola village in Shingal, said his son, Jasim.
“After the ceremony ends, we will move my father to Sharfadin Temple for burial,” he told Rudaw’s Tahsin Qasim at the ceremony. His father died on August 5, 2014.
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