MIDEAST-CRISIS/IRAQ BARZANI Kurdish leader Barzani vows Yazidis will return home

Record ID: 145228

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/IRAQ BARZANI Kurdish leader Barzani vows Yazidis will return home
  • Date: 3rd August 2015
  • Summary: DOHUK, IRAQ (AUGUST 3, 2015) (REUTERS) CONFERENCE HALL, PODIUM, AUDIENCE GETTING UP FROM THEIR SEATS AUDIENCE STAGE
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEKRH5GEYOYTJMELIXS0RDNXBC
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The president of Iraq's Kurdistan region vowed on Monday (August 3) to help the Yazidis return to their homes, after they fled from Islamic State last year.
    Masoud Barzani was attending a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the fall of Sinjar to the militants, an event that forced tens of thousands of people from Iraq's Yazidi minority, a Kurdish ethnic group in northern Iraq, to flee into the mountains.
    "I promise you, people of Shinkal (also known as Sinjar), that you'll return to your homes. I will fight with you to retake Sinjar and we will retake it, sooner or later," he said.
    Islamic State militants overran Yazidi villages in northwestern Iraq last summer, killing hundreds and taking thousands captive.
    Many remain in the hands of Islamic State, which has often subjected women to rape or sexual slavery.
    Barzani said he wanted to negotiate with Baghdad over the status of Sinjar.
    "The Kurdistan regional government will try to coordinate with the central government to give Sinjar province status," he said.
    Sinjar is currently part of the province of Mosul.
    Islamic State attacked the Sinjar area in August 2014, sending thousands of Yazidis fleeing up the mountain, a craggy strip some 40 miles (65 km.) long.
    Yazidis are followers of an ancient religion derived from Zoroastrianism. They are viewed as "devil worshippers" by the Sunni militants of Islamic State who tell them to convert to Islam or face death.
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