Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Batman MP Feleknas Uca spoke at the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In her speech at the meeting she attended via video conference, Uca focused on the latest ISIS attack on Hesekê in Northern and Eastern Syria and Turkey's air strikes on Shengal.  “Today I want to talk to you about a subject very close to my heart. I want to talk to you about the Yazidis, about Shengal today,” Uca said, and stated that the Yazidis were subjected to a great massacre with the attack carried out by ISIS on August 3, 2014.

 

MISSING YAZIDI WOMEN

 

Reminding that hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and became refugees and thousands of Yazidi women and children fell into the hands of ISIS in this massacre, Uca said, “7 thousand women and children were abducted and sold in slave markets. Today we still see abducted women being sold in different countries. More than a hundred mass graves have been found in Shengal. Of the 7,000 women who went missing today, about 2,800 are still missing. This massacre against Yazidis took place before the eyes of the media and the international community.”

 

TURKEYS ATTACKS AGAINST SHENGAL

 

HDP MP said that even though they are exposed to crimes against humanity, Yazidis who return to their countries to start a new life and form self-defense units and establish women's councils, are still exposed to air strikes of Turkey today. "Turkish drones repeatedly threatened and bombed Yazidis' self-defense units, hospitals were also bombed, and many civilians were killed," Uca said. The Yazidis did not pose any threat to Turkey, and the Yazidis have never attacked Turkey. What do you want from the Yazidis?” asked Uca.

 

CLOSE THE AIRSPACE

 

Emphasizing that the survivors of the Yazidi genocide have the right to live and build their homeland, Uca called for the airspace of Shengal to be closed and added, "The least the international community can do is protect them from air strikes."

 

THE HESEKÊ ATTACK

 

Uca drew attention to the ISIS attack on the Rojava's city of Hasekê, where there was a mass escape attempt from the prison where the ISIS prisoners were held.

 

“Over 5,000 people fled. This showed us that they are being supported by some actors under covers. Moreover, ISIS militants had weapons that belong to NATO. I want to ask this question here. What are NATO weapons doing in the hands of ISIS in Rojava? It is our duty to solve this problem. It was Shengal yesterday and today it was Kobanê. The whole world is under threat", Uca said.