The Shengal Resistance Units (Yekîneyên Berxwedana Şengal/YBŞ) Command condemned the perpetrators of the Êzidî massacre, their co-conspirators and their supporters and said: “Our Êzidî people will never forget these betrayals. Our people will not accept the subjugation of these treacherous forces and they will resist. The barbaric minds who thought to make dirty alliances to put this people through another firman will be drowned in the face of this resistance. YBŞ aims to be the guarantee of freedom for not only Shengal but the whole region, and will do everything necessary for this at the appropriate time and place.”

The YBŞ Command issued a written statement on the third anniversary of the genocide imposed upon the Êzidî people on August 3, 2014 and condemned the attack on Shengal and the genocide. The statement said: “It has been 3 years since the 73rd genocide. Our people in Shengal have narrowly avoided a genocide at the hands of the barbaric ISIS and the co-conspiring traitors. The 73rd genocide was like no other before it, and it had a clear message: To destroy the Êzidî people both physically and as a will.”

The YBŞ Command pointed out that the Êzidî people, with thousands of years of traditions in faith and culture, have been subjected to cultural and physical genocides various times throughout history and added: “The genocide on August 3, 2014 has proven that the Êzidî people can’t avoid genocides unless they have their own defense. The co-conspiring forces that hold all the control mechanisms tricked the people for years so the Êzidî people wouldn’t create their own self defense and actualize their will for self-government and in a sense did everything they could so the people would forget their own identity. With that in mind, thinking the 73rd most recent genocide on August 3, 2014 just happened all of a sudden would be fooling ourselves. The KDP, who claimed they were the only ones in control in Shengal before the genocide, and all the forces including the Iraqi central government paved the way for this genocide and turned a blind eye to this ancient people coming to the brink of destruction as a whole with this last genocide. Despite all this, the genocide has unearthed many facts.”

“OUR PEOPLE WON’T FORGET THE TRAITORS”

The statement said the attack on Shengal and its villages was a tragedy for humanity and that the treacherous co-conspirator forces abandoned the Êzidîs, left them defenseless against the ISIS attack and fled. The statement also said:

“Thousands of women, children and elderly people fell captive to ISIS gangs. Hundreds of Êzidî women were sold in markets by the gangs. The honor of Êzidîs have been trampled and they have been humiliated. Hundreds of our people died of hunger and thirst on the way to Shengal mountain. Those who claim rights over Shengal now are the treacherous co-conspiring groups like the KDP who abandoned our people and fled. Our Êzidî people will never forget these betrayals. Our people will not accept the subjugation of these treacherous forces and they will resist.”

“THE ÊZIDÎ PEOPLE WILL HAVE THEIR SELF DEFENSE”

The statement pointed out that the Êzidî people created their self defense after Shengal was liberated and continued: “The Êzidî people have now formed their self-defense forces with this last genocide. This self defense force is called the YBŞ (Yekîneyên Berxwedana Şengal). The Êzidî people now have the strength and the will to defend themselves. The barbaric minds who thought to make dirty alliances to put this people through another genocide will be drowned in the face of this resistance. YBŞ aims to be the guarantee of freedom for not only Shengal but the whole region, and will do everything necessary for this at the appropriate time and place. This people experienced a genocide which is a point of shame in human history and we as the YBŞ will fight against all enemies and regressive ideologies until our last drop of blood so a genocide like this doesn’t occur again. We as the YBŞ will undertake the necessary leadership so the Êzidî people have their own unity and won’t go through the same pains again.”

The YBŞ Command’s statement promised to stay true to the hundreds of young selfless heroes who resisted and fell martyr in the last genocide and said: “We salute again the hundreds of young selfless heroes who resisted and fell martyr in the last genocide and we promise to make our loyalty to their memory concrete in offering a free and democratic life. We as the defense forces of the Êzidî people condemn the genocide once again in the harshest terms.”