HDP condemns murder of Yazidi commander in Shingal

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) on Wednesday described the recent Turkish airstrike that targeted a Yazidi military official in northern Iraq as an attempt to complete the “unfinished atrocities” of the Islamic State (ISIS) that killed and enslaved thousands of members of the ethnoreligious group when it took control of vast swaths of the country seven years ago.

A commander in the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), Marwan Badal Haji was killed in a Turkish airstrike that targeted a vehicle in Shingal’s Khanasor town on Tuesday. He was accompanied by his two children at the time of the offensive, who both survived the attack

The HDP condemned Badal’s murder.

“How does Turkey’s government explain the bombing of Yazidi civilians in Shengal?” the party tweeted.

“We are witnessing an attempt to complete the unfinished atrocities of ISIS,” it added, referring to the havoc in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal and the crimes committed against the minority group during the ISIS invasion in August 2014.

The Iraqi Security Media Cell also condemned the attack in the early hours of Wednesday, expressing its rejection of “any transgression on the Iraqi lands,” it tweeted. “The only way to solve issues is through peaceful and diplomatic means.”

Turkey considers the YBS to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group fighting for the enhanced rights of Kurds in Turkey. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, which carries out regular military campaigns against the group at home and in northern Iraq, including in the Kurdistan Region.

Badal’s murder prompted anger among the Yazidi community.

“Marwan [Badal] is a Yazidi from Sinjar who took up arms in defense of his land & people during the Genocide in 2014 & he is not a terrorist to be murdered in his car,” Murad Ismael, president and co-founder of Sinjar Academy said in a tweet condemning the silence of the Iraqi government and the international community.

The Free Yezidi Foundation called the strike “outrageous, illegal, and unacceptable,” and exhorted the Kurdish and Iraqi governments to stop Turkey’s abuse against Yazidis, along with NATO and the United Nations Security Council.

Again, #Turkey airstrikes have targeted #Yezidi #Yazidi in #Sinjar. Was it not enough to endure #YazidiGenocide, that now we are attacked from the air by #Turkey, a @NATO member?

The Iraq and KRG govts must stop this abuse, and so must NATO and UN Sec Council. Outrageous! pic.twitter.com/dxYXJstQNY

— FreeYezidiFoundation (@Free_Yezidi) December 7, 2021

Several armed forces affiliated with the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the PKK, and Hashd al-Shaabi are present in Shingal. The district is among the areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad. Ankara occasionally carries out such attacks against the YBS in Shingal.

A Turkish airstrike killed two members of the YBS, including a senior commander and three civilians on August 16. Another airstrike hit a hospital in Shingal a day later, killing four care workers and four YBS fighters.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously warned that they will continue attacking Shingal as long as the PKK fighters are present there. 

 

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