The Turkish Consulate in northern Iraq's Irbil on Tuesday released a statement on the seventh anniversary of the brutal Daesh attack on the Yazidi community in Sinjar. “We remember today the sufferings of the Yazidis caused by the Daesh terror,” it said in a statement.
The Turkish Consulate in Irbil posted a message on Twitter on the seventh anniversary of the attack that took place on Aug. 3, 2014, in the Sinjar province, which is predominantly made up of Yazidis.
Noting that the Yazidi community still suffers because of the PKK terrorist organization, the Turkish Consulate tweeted: “7 years ago, the Daesh terrorist organization has undertaken an inhumane act of massacre against the Yazidi population. We remember today the agony of the Yazidis. Yazidis who were at that time forced to flee their homes because of the terror inflicted by Daesh, can’t return to their homes due to the presence of the brutal terrorist organization PKK. PKK persecution has to end."
There is clear and compelling evidence showing that Daesh terrorists committed genocide against the Yazidi minority in Iraq in 2014, the head of a United Nations investigation team said earlier this year.
In 2016, the U.N.-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said Daesh was committing genocide against Yazidis, and several nongovernmental organizations have echoed that conclusion.
The PKK terrorist group managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in mid-2014 under the pretext of protecting the local Yazidi community from Daesh. Since then, the PKK has reportedly established a new base in Sinjar for its logistical and command-and-control activities. Around 450,000 Yazidis escaped Sinjar after Daesh took control of the region in mid-2014.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conduct cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks on Turkey. Iraq's KRG previously called the PKK's presence in Sinjar unacceptable and urged the militants to leave the area.
Turkey has long stressed that it will not tolerate terrorist threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps are not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terrorist threats, particularly in Sinjar.
