Aji Bashar managed to escape her Islamic State captors in March, on her fifth attempt

Lamiya Aji Bashar and Nadia Murad have been awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. They talked to DW about what the prize means to them and how the EU can help the Yazidi community.

DW: Given the situation we have now in Iraq, the fight for Mosul, and the many women still in the same situation you were in, do you have hope for those who are still in Iraq at the moment?

Lamiya Aji Bashar: Frankly yes, we have hope. We cannot stop hoping. We are hopeful that the captives will be liberated and freed, yes. We look forward to the day when Daesh (the Arabic acronym for Islamic State, or IS) will be held accountable for the crimes and I hope that the captives will be liberated and freed.

Nadia Murad: For me, it is not about hope. We should combat Daesh. We should stop the interaction between Daesh in Iraq and Syria. Then Daesh will be diminished as a force and will lose ground – and then we will liberate the girls and women in an easier way. So it is not a question of hope. We have to combat Daesh so that we can liberate everybody.

DW: Do you think enough is being done at the moment, to liberate women who are in the same situation that you were in?

Murad: No, for more than two years now the captives are still with Daesh. Those who were liberated, liberated themselves. They did not know what their fate would be – either death or liberation. I think the world has not done enough yet. Daesh has taken women from their houses, they sell them. These women do not know when Daesh members will come and get them. So there were no parties that supported Yazidis to liberate their women. There are some people who go and pay huge sums of money to liberate some girls and women. But that is not enough. You know that the sums of money do not go to Daesh but to those who actually jeopardize their life in order to go and liberate women.

Aji Bashar: Yes, for more that two years now, most of the captives have not been liberated yet. Many countries lay down their arms – they do not do anything. Some people try to liberate their acquaintances through other people, but it is a dangerous adventure. So far, we have not seen enough that has been done to liberate our children, our women, from Daesh.

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Shingal Yazidi Women’s Assembly strongly condemned the KDP leader Massoud Barzani’s meeting with Yazidi community leaders in the village of Sihêla where he pressured Yazidis to fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK earlier this week.

In the meeting, Massoud Barzani stated that the PKK’s existence in Sinjar (Shingal) should be ended and asked Yazidi peshmergas and people to take a stance against the PKK openly. Accordingly, Barzani said that the existence of two authorities in Sinjar should be ended, and the Yazidi peshmergas and people should take an open stance against the PKK and kick it out of Sinjar. Barzani also said that they would fight the PKK if it refuses to leave Sinjar.

Speaking at the press conference, Shingal Yazidi Women’s Assembly Spokesperson Naem Ilyas reacted to the recent developments, saying; “Barzani is calling for the PKK’s leave from Sinjar instead of giving an account of the thousands of women taken captive by Islamic State (IS). Yazidi women are not like how they used to be. We will no more remain silent on the injustices and betrayal we are facing. Barzani is gathering a meeting with the aim of driving the PKK out of Sinjar while our villages are still under ISIS occupation. Barzani and KDP should firstly liberate the captive Yazidi women and our villages.”

Regarding the policies pursued on the Yazidi community, Naem underlined that Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP and Barzani’s goal was to evacuate the Yazidis from Sinjar lands, adding; “Thousands of Yazidis died and many others were forced to migrate to Europe, a quarter of whom drowned in the sea on their way. The rest is holding on to life in these mountains and Barzani now wants to make them confront each other. The whole world should know that they will not manage to create a conflict among the Yazidis. While 13 thousand peshmergas fled Sinjar, PKK came to our help here. They liberated our lands with the blood of martyrs and nobody can tell them to leave now.”

Calling attention to Barzani’s secret alliances with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, Naem said; “Barzani is holding secret meetings with Erdoğan who later bomb innocent people and shell the towns with tanks. They are the IS itself.”

Islamic State group has captured most parts of Sinjar (Shingal) district, west of Mosul on August 3, 2014 after Iraqi Kurdish KDP Peshmerga forces withdrew from Shingal without a fight, leaving behind the Kurdish Yazidi civilians, which led thousands of Kurdish families to flee to Mount Sinjar, where they were trapped in it and suffered from significant lack of water and food, killing and abduction of thousands of Yazidis as well as rape and captivity of thousands of women.

Those who stay behind are subjected to brutal, genocidal acts: thousands killed, hundreds buried alive, and countless acts of rape, kidnapping and enslavement are perpetuated against Yazidi women. To add insult to injury, IS fighters ransack and destroy ancient Yazidi holy sites.

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Yazidi women respond to Massoud Barzani over PKK, Sinjar comments