450 Turkmen civilians in ISIS captivity

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants have kidnapped 450 Turkmen civilians in Iraq, the president of the Turkmen Saving Foundation announced Thursday.

Ali Akram Bayati, the head of the Foundation, visited the Kurdistan region and presented a report to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) parliamentary Committee of Human Rights on the situation of those Turkmens who have been taken captive in Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahaddin, and Diyala provinces.

Speaking during a press conference held earlier in the day in Erbil, Bayati said they had concluded in their final report that 450 Turkmen civilians remain in ISIS captivity, including 50 women and 70 children.

He added that the Foundation gave the report to the Kurdistan parliament, requesting assistance from the KRG, Iraqi federal government, and international actors to help secure the release of the captives and let the world know about the crimes committed by ISIS.

The report was directed to the Committee of Human Rights in order to be investigated alongside related cases of kidnapped civilians, especially Turkmens, Yazidis, and Christians.

It is comprised of 54 pages and focuses mainly on ISIS crimes against Turkmen civilians in Nineveh and Diyala provinces.

During the ISIS offensives across much of northern and western Iraq last summer, militants kidnapped hundreds of civilians, including Yazidi and Turkmen girls whose fate remains unknown.

Iraq’s Turkmen community previously called for weapons to join in the fight against ISIS militants, and Shiite Turkmen fighters successfully resisted a months-long ISIS siege of the small town of Amerli in Salahaddin province.

http://www.nrttv.com/en/iraq/2015/02/19/450-turkmen-civilians-in-isis-captivity