Yezidi-Kurds ask EU for help

by Roni Alasor

Brussels, 7 November 2019 - Middle East Diplomatic - Several Kurdish-Yezidi organisations from the Kurdish region Rojava/Syria attending a meeting at the European Parliament asked the European Union (EU) for urgent help against the Turkish war and islamist terror gangs supported by NATO’s ally, the Turkish army, which is also backed by Putin’s Russia.

After an introduction of the tragic history of non-muslim Yezidi-Kurds by Prof. Sebastian Maisel from Leipzig University and Political Scientist and Cultural Anthropologist Dr. Thomas Schmidinger from Vienna University, the Kurdish-Yezidi organisations from Rojava/North-East Syria asked for help from the European Union to stop the Turkish aggression and terror in the Kurdish Rojava region where the Yezidi community as well as other Christian and ethnical groups are heavily affected having lost all their belongings.

During the meeting, the representatives of Kurdish-Yezidi organisations explained that after the Kurdish victory over ISIS terror gangs supported by NATO-ally Turkey, the Turkish army became more aggressive wanting to eliminate all Kurds and other ethnical minorities living in Rojava;

“When ISIS were routed by Kurdish-Democratic forces in Rojava and the North East of Syria, the Turkish state started to attack the Kurdish region. After occupying Jerablus-Azaz, they also occupied Afrin with the help of Putin’s Russia. Many hundred thousand of Kurds and other ethnic-religious minorities have been pushed by the Turkish army and its Islamist terror gangs to leave their homes to move elsewhere. The Yezidi community has been heavily affected by the Turkish occupation and terror. The Yezidi holy places, even graves have been targeted and destroyed. Since the 9 of October 2019, after that Turkish army and its merchant-gangs started the large-scale-war against whole Rojava, the situation of  the Yezidi community and other religious and ethnic minorities has deteriorated. Therefore we ask the European Union and the international community to protect our community before it is too late. We the representatives of the Kurdish-Yezidi community from the Syrian Kurdish Region Rojava would demand that:

- The Turkish-Islamist terror and war against Rojava should be stopped immediately.

- The turkish army and its mercenary terror gangs should leave Rojava/North East of Syria.

- As we do not trust the USA and Russia because they are not protecting us against the Turkish-Islamist aggression, the EU has to be actively involved to protect the fundamental rights of the Yizidi community.

- We would like also underline that the EU and international humanitarian aid do not solve the long terms problems. Therefore we ask for long term political solutions for ethnical and religious problems in Syria.

- The Yezidi religious faith should be recognized as a third religion in the new constitution of a new Syria.

- The Yezidi representatives should attend the Geneva process lead by the UN.

- The EU should also play a role in a dialogue between Syria and the Kurdish region of Rojava.

After the meeting on situation of the Yezidi community, the organisers of the seminar from Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrat (S&D), the Members of European Parliament Mrs Bettina Vollath from Austria and Miss Evin Incir from Sweden promised to the Kurdish-Yezidi NGO’s that they will continue to follow the situation of the Yezidi community and they will make sure that their voice would be heard by the European Union. The MEPs underlined that the EU should also not be silent about the Turkish aggression against Rojava, but EU should be more active to play a role in the conflict.