The Kurdish community in Armenia condemns the threatens from Baghdad against the Yazidi settlement area of Shengal (Sinjar) and has called on the Iraqi government to respect the Yazidis' right to self-determination. At a joint press conference in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, representatives of various Kurdish organizations described the Iraqi central government's order to withdraw Shengal's autonomous defense forces from the region on the basis of the agreement reached in October under pressure from Turkey and the United States as a "devious and dangerous plan." It is "more than cynical" to call the agreement reached over the people of Shengal between Baghdad and the Southern Kurdistan leadership in Hewlêr (Erbil) a measure to solve political and security problems, when in order to do so the Yazidi community has to give up its structures of self-government and self-defense built up after the ISIS genocide of 2014, said Kinyas Hasanov (also known as Kinyazê Hemîd), a member of parliament who is also the chairman of the Kurdish community in Armenia.

"Baghdad and Hewlêr want to divide all areas of responsibility among themselves, and the people of Shengal have no say in the matter. Basically, the agreement is another attempt by the Iraqi government to take control of Shengal," Hasanov continued. "It makes you wonder why Shengal was abandoned by Baghdad in August 2014. And why does the Iraqi government today believe it has a right to the region when it merely stood by in August 2014 as ISIS overran the region and committed genocide?"

Hasanov stressed that disbanding the Yazidi Defense Forces would do nothing to provide security in Shengal, but rather promote another genocide against the Yazidi community. Silo Dirboyan, co-chair of the Kurdistan Committee, and Jenya Qadir of the Union of Free Women called on Iraq to cancel the so-called Shengal Agreement.

Yazidis not willing to leave their security to others

When the ISIS entered Shengal on August 3, 2014, not only peshmerga units from the Southern Kurdistan government but also the local Iraqi army took flight. Alone, the HPG guerrillas and later the YPG and YPJ from Rojava defended Shengal against ISIS and saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people by clearing an escape corridor. Later, the guerrillas helped the population establish their own self-defense forces and democratic self-government in the region. In 2018, the Kurdish forces withdrew from the region after completing this task. Shengal has been protecting itself ever since, and the people there are no longer willing to leave their security and administration to outside forces in light of 74 massacres in Yazidi history.