We Respectfully Commemorate Those Who Lost Their Lives in Yazidi Genocide
2 August 2025
As the bearers of an ancient faith and culture living in the Middle East, within Turkey, Syria, Iraq and the former Soviet territory, the Yazidis are a people who have been subject to several persecutions and become the target of ethnic and religious attacks throughout their history.
Yazidis, who had faced 72 “ferman” (mass killings), until 2014, refer to ISIS’s attacks as the “73rd ferman”.
Thousands of Yazidis had to leave Ezidxan (the homelands of the Yazidis) after ISIS attacks to Şengal Mountains situated on the west of Mosul, in early August in 2014. They did not have to leave only their homes and belongings behind but also their relatives who had been forcibly abducted by the ISIS.
ISIS killed thousands of people and abducted women, men and children in Şengal and the surrounding area, where around 550,000 Yazidis had been living. Especially Yazidi girls and women were sold in bazaars as the “spoil of war”. As the result of these ISIS attacks, hundreds thousands of people had to flee to Iraqi Kurdistan Region, Syria, Turkey and European countries.
In February 2016, first the European Parliament recognised the ISIS attacks to Yazidis as genocide. In the same year, the UN Human Rights Council also considered these attacks against the Yazidis as ‘the crime of genocide’ in its report published in June 2016.
As of today, around 20 countries, including USA, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada and Armenia have so far recognised the Yazidi genocide.
Despite the fact that 11 years has passed since then and only around 150 thousand people have been able to return Şengal and the surrounding area; there are still hundreds of thousands of Yazidis who live in camps, struggling to survive under harsh conditions.
According to the data shared by the Yazidi Rescue Office, 6417 Yazidis were abducted by ISIS in 2014; 3548 of whom were women, 2869 of whom were men. Despite the fact that 3562 people have been rescued since 2019, around 2600 Yazidis are still missing.
In this genocide, as in Bosnia and Rwanda, crimes such as rape, forced sexual slavery and forced marriage were committed systematically. More than 85 mass graves belonged to Yazidis killed by ISIS have been identified, only 15 of which have been opened, revealing hundreds of bodies.
As the Human Rights Association, we once again respectfully commemorate those who lost their lives in these inhumane attacks against the Yazidis.
The recognition of the Yazidi Genocide by the European Parliament and the United Nations Human Rights Council is undoubtedly a historic step. However, it is not enough. We once again call on all states, particularly Turkey, that have not yet recognized the Yazidi Genocide, to recognize this atrocity committed against the Yazidi people in 2014 as genocide. Pursuant to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, we demand that the International Criminal Court be empowered, that those responsible be brought to justice, and that these serious crimes not go with impunity.
We also invite all states and international organisations, the United Nations in particular, to respect the Yazidi people’s right to self-determination, right to resist genocide and right to exist.
Human Rights Association