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Ezidikhan PM denounces Barzani threat to occupy Shingal

by on 2019-02-07
 

[LALISH, Nineveh, Iraq. February 7, 2019] Ezidikhan Prime Minister Barjis Soso Kalaf has rejected statements made by neighboring Kurdistan Region’s Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani’s during a speech  earlier this week . Barzani’s statements, says Prime Minister Barjis, amount to a threat to occupy and administer Shingal against the will of the Yezidi people. Barzani was speaking at a ceremony to receive the body of the late Mir Tahseen Beg.

Prime Minister Barjis said, “The people of Shingal utterly condemn any attempt by Barzani to forcibly take political or physical control of Ezidikhan, its people or its resources. Barzani’s words and actions are in violation of international law and the Iraqi constitution. Ezidikhan joins Iraq’s leadership in working to protect Iraq’s sovereignty and integrity.”

Last November the Ezidikhan Governing Council met in emergency session to debate and unanimously enact a resolution condemning the Kurdish Regional Government’s “act of genocide” in Northern Iraq. The resolution was the Ezidikhan government’s official response to the Kurdish government’s decision to impose its political and military control over Ezidikhan villages and communities that began in early October 2018.


“The people of Shingal utterly reject any attempt by Barzani to forcibly take political or physical control of Ezidikhan, its people or its resources. Barzani’s words and actions are in violation of international law and the Iraqi constitution. Ezidikhan joins Iraq’s leadership in working to protect Iraq’s sovereignty and integrity.”

-Ezidikhan Prime Minister Barjis Soso Kalaf

Protests by Yezidi and their allies were triggered by the Kurdish Regional Government’s re-installation of its own political operatives in village and community governments. MP Saib Khidir Yezidi Member of Iraqi Parliament denounced the Kurdish illegal imposition of political and military personnel in Ezidikhan as “unacceptable”.

The Ezidikhan Governing Council also called on the Special Advisor on Genocide to the UN Secretary General Mr. Adama Dieng to intervene to reverse the actions of the Kurdish government by “withdrawing its political and security forces immediately.”

“The Yezidi people reject the Iraq government’s attempt to install the Kurdish Regional Government as the military and political authority over the nation of Ezidikhan without our consent. The Ezidikhan Provisional Government is the sole, legitimate government representing the peoples of Ezidikhan.”

The resolution states that the Ezidikhan Provisional Government recognizes the definition of genocide as “the destruction of the national patterns of the oppressed group” followed by the “imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor.” In advocating this position, Justice Minister Ms. Nallein Sowilo expressed the distrust and resentment Yezidis feel towards Kurdish authorities, saying “The Kurdish Regional government has long claimed that the Yezidi of Ezidikhan are ‘Kurds’ and their religion and language are to be replaced by the Kurdish language and Islamic faith. This is classic genocide.”

The approved resolution states furthermore that “colonization means an outside actor may act to occupy and control an oppressed population” as an act of genocide. The Governing Council resolution states that the “Kurdish Regional Government’s colonial policy constitutes an evident act of Genocide.”

“Kurdish Regional Government’s colonial policy constitutes an evident act of Genocide.”

Ezidikhan Governing Council’s resolution
Residents of Shingal’s Sinune subdistrict predominantly populated by Yezidis stage protests to reject the return of former Shingal administration officials. Nov 9th 2018
Residents of Shingal’s Sinune subdistrict predominantly populated by Yezidis stage protests to reject the return of former Shingal administration officials. Nov 9th 2018

Protests by Yezidi and their allies were triggered by the Kurdish Regional Government’s re-installation of its own political operatives in village and community governments in late 2018. MP Saib Khidir Yezidi Member of Iraqi Parliament denounced the Kurdish illegal imposition of political and military personnel in Ezidikhan as “unacceptable.”

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