Following tensions between Iraqi troops and Yazidi defence units two weeks earlier, and reinforcement of Iraqi troops in Yazidi homeland Sinjar (Shengal) last week, members of Yazidi security forces known as ‘Êzidxan Asayish’ announced that they will not accept any decision taken against the will of the Yazidi people, expressing their determination to resist, reported Roj News on Friday.
While the 2014 attacks and massacres of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Sinjar resulted in the deaths of thousands of Yazidis and in the enslavement of thousands of Yazidi women and children by ISIS, it also resulted in initiatives for Yazidi autonomy and self protection, eventually leading to the formation of Yazidi self-protection units and a Yazidi security force.
The emergence of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ) and the Êzidxan Asayish, established in 2016, also owe to the fact that the Yazidis were abandoned by Iraqi troops and the peshmerga of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI) in the face of ISIS attacks in 2014.
According to a report by Roj News, meetings have been held for the de-escalation of tensions following the attack by Iraqi troops on the 18th of April on a Yazidi check point.
Êzidxan Asayish member Merwan Malo said to Roj News that they were responsible for security in a significant part of Sinjar, and were able to deal with the problems faced by the people in the region.
“In the last seven years we faced many problems, and solved them, and we gained the trust of our people,” he added.
“We will not accept the wrongful decisions of Turkey, KDP [Kurdistan Democratic Party], or Iraq. We know both what is necessary for our people and what will be harming to their future.”
