Sinjar events and attempts to change the facts

Reports 10:27 AM - 2023-04-30

Lalish temple.

 Twenty displaced families of Sunni Arab Muslims returned to the Sinjar district on the morning of April 27 after an assembly was conducted by a group of Arab tribal Sheikhs to encourage the families to return to Sinjar in coordination with the Iraqi army. Upon their arrival, dozens of young men and women from Sinjar, including survivors of Islamic State (ISIS) crimes, gathered near the Al-Rahman Mosque in the heart of the district and staged a protest to prevent the families from crossing. The protest included burning tires and throwing stones at the security forces.
 
Social media misreported the incident because the protest was against the return of terrorists to the area. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has long opposed Arabization and has acknowledged the Yezidis as Kurdistan Region natives, valuing their rights alongside those of other communities in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Among the returnees were those whose hands are stained with the massacres of the Yazidis

The families returned to Mosul after the army intervened and urged calm on all sides. It also came to light that one of the protesting survivors had recognized one of the returning Arab youngsters and accused him of being there with ISIS terrorists during her family's captivity; the army subsequently arrested and sent the young man for inquiry. The issue was exacerbated, and the Yazidi youth's reaction was amplified because of this incident.

Old photographs

In light of recent developments, images of a damaged and torched mosque from 2016 were shared on various social media accounts yesterday evening. Because of this, word quickly spread that the Yazidis had burned the mosque, prompting a strong reaction from many, especially those in the governorates of Duhok and Mosul, who posted the story on their social media accounts alongside a hashtag declaring the Yazidis to be infidels and inciting sectarian strife. This included clerics.

The Yazidis are not against returning

Since many of the accused were able to avoid legal consequences due to the decision by Iraqi intelligence to revoke security permits, Yazidi leaders have made it clear that they are not opposed to the return of the families, but only if it is confirmed that they did not participate in the Yazidi genocide.

Yazidis pay the price for their identity

Dr. Yousif Goran, head of the General Studies Center of the PUK, said in a post on his social media pages: "Our Yazidi brothers have paid the price for their Kurdish identity and the extremism of foreign agendas to exterminate Kurds throughout history... even now, there are attempts to defame and beat them by creating a climate based on lies and new Arabization plans," he adds, adding that "every honorable Kurd must resist these wicked attempts."
 
In 2014, ISIS terrorists overran Sinjar district, the heart of Yazidi territory in Iraq's Nineveh governorate. They killed thousands of Yazidi Kurds and enslaved thousands more. Many of the thousands of families forced to leave their homes are still missing.
 
 
 
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