Declaration of the Turkmen, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and Yazidi people of Iraq at the European Parliament in Brussels

Declaration of the Turkmen, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and Ezidi Kurdic people of Iraq

Call for the restoration of human rights to the non-ruling indigenous peoples of Iraq

The Declaration was signed on 19th November 2014

at the European Parliament in Brussels

The conference was hosted by MEP Mr. Branislav Skripek

Member of the EU Parliament, European Conservatives and Reformists Group, Member of the Bureau.

The conference was organized by Mr. Johannes de Jong, Manager Christian Political Foundation for Europe

The meeting was attended by several MEPs 

A representative from the Iraqi Embassy in Brussels was present 

A representative from the Kurdish Government was also present. 

Dr Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative; Mr Fikret Igrek, Head of Foreign Affairs Federation of Yezidi Associations; Mr. Lahdo Hobil, President European Syriac Union; Mr. Johannes de Jong, Manager Christian Political Foundation for Europe; Mr. Branislav Skripek, 

.The signatories and Mr. Johannes de Jong 

The signatories with Mr Johannes de Jong

The signatories: Mr Fikret Igrek, Head of Foreign Affairs Federation of Yezidi Associations; Dr Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative; Mr. Lahdo Hobil, President European Syriac Union; Mr. Lahdo Hobil, President European Syriac Union.

Dr Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative signing the Declaration 

Prof Dr Mahir Nakip; Dr. Hassan Aydinli and Mr. Fikret Igrek

On the panel:

Dr Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative; Mr Fikret Igrek, Head of Foreign Affairs Federation of Yezidi Associations; Mr. Johannes de Jong, Manager Christian Political Foundation for Europe; Mr. Branislav Skripek, Member of the EU Parliament. 

Prof. Dr. Mahir Nakip, of Erciyes University, Kayseri 

Prof. Dr. Mahir Nakip, Erciyes University, Kayseri

making his presentation

Excerpt of the Common Declaration:

We, Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians, Turkmens and Yazidis have come together as peoples of Iraq, belonging to this country. Our peoples are original inhabitants of Iraq in equal rights with all other peoples composing our nation and living in Iraq.

Each of our peoples has suffered under the fact that our existence has not been adequately recognized in Iraq and in the international community for many decades.  We all have experienced discrimination, persecution and ethnic and cultural cleansing due to this lack of adequate recognition of our ethnic, cultural and religious identity and the right to be as we are in our country.

Now we have been driven from our homelands in Iraq by the evil that is ISIS. This evil knows nothing else but destruction and death and has hit our peoples in ways unimaginable.  Children have been decapitated, women raped and sold and men killed and tortured. The battle agains ISIS is not a religious battle but a battle for the most fundamental notions of humanity.

In light of this current crisis we have united ourselves to work towards a common future in which each of our peoples are recognized as part of our country and will be able to preserve the existence of our ethnic, cultural and religious identities. It is our aim to maintain and contribute to the rich diversity of our land and to support in this effort those peoples who are our neighbours and share the same wish for a common peaceful future.

We do not want to be treated as victims, we want to be recognized as equal citizens of Iraq.  We have come to the conclusion that in order to be recognised equal citizens of Iraq as Turkmen, Ezidi Kurds and Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians we need to have recognition and self-determination in those part of the land which have been historically (and in present day) our lands where we have been able to be and live as we are without fear for our neighbours and without the need to hide our identities.

We Ezidi Kurds want to return and live in Sinjar, we Turkmen want to return to and live in our homelands across Iraq and we Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians want to return to and live in Nineveh Plain. We want to live there as citizens and recognised peoples of Iraq and not as tolerated minorities. It is this stigmatization that has lead to the situation that we are experiencing now.

For this reason it is necessary that we will have local autonomy and self-administration in cooperation both with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional government and the Iraqi central government.

               

                  Turkmens from The Netherlands assisted to the Meeting and signing ceremony.

Mr. Jankeez Sabir; Mr. Ashraf Kerkuklu; Mr. Sabah Mardan and

a Turkish supporter from Brussels Mr. Turan Türe

Mr. Kahyah Safaa Yaseen; Muafak Shoker Yousef, Mr. Yavuz Kadir,  Mr. Jankeez Sabir; Mr. Ashraf Kerkuklu; Mr. Sabah Mardan

Mr. Muafak Shoker Yousef, Mr. Yavuz Kadir

Turkish friends from Germany assisted to the meeting

Mrs. Remziye Levent and Mr. Nusret Levent

Ms. Nebahat Acar, from Brussels Parliament

Mr; David Fieldsend, Archbishop of Canterbury's Representation to the EU and Dr. Hassan Aydinli, Iraqi Turkmen Front EU representative

Mr. Zlatko Balaz, Policy Advisor, European Conservative s and Reformist Group

and Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU Representative

Mr. Willy Fautré, Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers. Dr. Hassan Aydinli, ITF EU representative and Prof Dr. Mahir Nakip, Erciyes University, Kayseri

The violations against the Yezidis human rights continues in Iraq by KRG's terrorist organization

04-06-2012

The violations against the Yezidis human rights are continuing and if the USA, UK, UN, EU, Russia, Canada and all other International Communities do not act now, the non-Muslim minorities sooner or later will be totally annihilated from our historical homelands (Mesopotamia).

Bellow is more incidents happened in the Yezidis regions in Sinjar; your assistance urgently needed!

On Tuesday, May 29, 2012 the KRG’s security forces (Asayish) arrested Mr. Saleh Hussein Hanji in the al-Qahataniya village, district of Sinjar; he was transferred to the KRG’s security forces’ detention centre in Sinjar city at the same day (May 29, 2012), his family members and friends have not been able to visit him or talk to him and since then according to the information received by the Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International in Iraq section.

Mr. Hanji is one of the Yezidis independent clan leaders in the Sinjar region. The arrest of Mr. Saleh Hanji came against the background of political issues, not security, because he attending an Iraqi Tribal Leaders Conference, which was held in Baghdad by more than two weeks under the sponsorship of the federal government, which was not accepted by the KRG and its illegal authority in the Yezidis’ areas and especially in Sinjar regions.

There were also two more incidents happened in the Yezidis’ area North side of the Sinjar mountain; (1)- A student boy was kidnapped unknown group from Borek village (Yarmouk) few days ago; (2)- A Yezidi girl whose is family is a care taker of one of the Yezidis temple also was kidnapped by unknown group. We will inform you if we receive any more information regarding these last two incidents.

These are clear signs that the Yezidis in Sinjar regions extremely suffer from the ill-treatments and pressures by the KRG and its dictatorial political regime. Sinjar is a part of the Mosul Governorate and it is not a part of the KRG and junior mullah Barzani should be able to pull his terrorist militias and his bloody dirty hands from our lives, so we can live in peace and freedom.

There are evidences that the KRG’s authority and its terrorist militias are behind all terrorist attacks against the non-Muslim minorities in Iraq.  Today, we urgently demand the International Community to act immediately and put pressures on the KRG to stop its “Terrorist Activities against the non-Muslim Iraqi minorities; so we can survive and die peacefully!”

If you have any questions about this or any other issues regarding the Yezidis please do not hesitate to contact: Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International  ezidis@gmail.com

Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International

Yezidis voted against Kurdish dominance in North Iraq

GMT 2-13-2009 1:33:37Assyrian International News Agency

North Iraq (AINA) -- The Yezidi Movement for Reform and Progress, an independent entity in Iraq, won the one quota seat reserved in the Nineveh province for the Yezidi minority. The win has infuriated Kurdish leaders who were taken by surprise by the strong Yezidi opposition to Kurdish dominance.

Kurdish political groups have invested heavily over the past years in the Kurdification of the Yezidis (AINA 12-1-2008) by different methods as well as presenting them to the outside world as Kurds, amounting to an attempt to eradicate an ancient indigenous community with roots in ancient Mesopotamian civilization.

The surprising win of the independent Yezidi Movement for Reform and Progress in Nineveh province is seen as a rebuke of Kurdish aggression.

Commenting for AINA, Qanat Hammo, one of the founders of the Yezidi Movement for Reform and Progress, said "Despite all the oppression and coercion of the Kurds our people were able to fight back using the ballot box. We want them to leave us alone, we are not Kurds and they need to respect this fact." Yezidis are erroneously described as Kurds for political reasons, an identity to which they object. They make up the majority in the Sinjar area west of Mosul and in the Shekhan district in the Nineveh Plain.

Observers maintain the independent Yezidis won the seat because the Kurds were taken off guard.

"The Kurds thought they had the Yezidis in their pockets, so they put all their efforts on the Assyrians instead," said Qanat Hammo, "going to great length to make sure the Assyrian seat would be won by the Kurdish backed Ishtar slate, but they were really taken by surprise."
The Kurdish backed Ishtar slate won the Assyrian quota seat in the Nineveh province amidst many allegations of illegal campaign methods (AINA 2-12-2009, 2-10-2009).available as: html

Iraq's Provincial Elections: KRG's new evil tactics against non-Kurdish communities in the North of Iraq

The following is an Appeal from the Yezidi Community-Canada

Dear Members of International Communities, colleagues and friends,

These are the KRG's new developments against the innocent Yezidis of Iraq and in Nineveh Plain in Particular. The Iraq's provincial elections are very important for the minorities in Iraq, which could give them the opportunity to have their voices in the Iraqi governments. But unfortunately the KRG's new evil tactics are preventing any developments forward in the minorities' regions and Kirkuk and Nineveh Plain in particulars. And it is very clear that the Iraqi government is unable to protect the Iraq's minorities, such as Yezidis, Chaldo-Assyrians, Mandaens, Turkmens and Shabaks.

As a minority, we urgently call upon the US, UK, EU, UN Officials and NGOs International Communities to take an immediate steps and right measures towards these injustices and atrocities by KRG against the minority groups in Iraq, and also free Nineveh Plain from KRG's militias ( terrorists). Therefore, the minority groups could live in peace and freedom and select their desired representatives of choice.

These are some of the current incidents we report includes:

1- KRG militias threatening the Yezidis people of Sinjar if they don't vote for Kurdish list, there will be no compensation payment to those Yezidis who were relocated into collective villages in 1975, which the Iraqi government agreed to give 10 millions Iraqi dinars to each family and which already has been given to small amount of the Yezidis in Sinjar regions about 6-8 months ago and the KRG left the rest of the money for its election campaign.

2- The KRG's threatening the Yezidis to cut the salaries of the families of the martyrs, if they don't vote for KRGs.

3- KRG's militias are threatening the Yezidis of Sinjar regions, that they cannot visit Kurdistan to work, visit doctors and hospitals in the KRG, if the Yezidis don't vote for Kurdish list.

4- The KRG's militias' circulation of polling stations already started.

5- The KRG's militias post their political campaign posters at all check points in the Yezidis' regions in Sinjar, and warn the Yezidis to keep quiet.

6- The KRG's using Iraqi army vehicles and Iraqi soldiers of Kurdish origin for the election campaign to frighten the Yezidis and the Kurdish militias to paste their posters on these military vehicles.

7- Cowardly criminal act of KDP's militias and those affiliated to the party attacked the family of Amin Farhan Jejjo (Member of Parliament and head of Yezidis Movement for Reform and Progress) and is known for his patriotism and dedication to the noble service of Iraq and the Iraqis and to fight for the process of injustices against the Yezidis and the division of Iraq.

It seems that this attack came after the submission of a traffic video cameraman to the Independent Electoral Commission of the Office of Nineveh, one of the electoral irregularities of Barzani is to use of the army in the electoral propaganda and intimidation of the people to win the electoral votes.

Here, we call upon US, UK, EU Officials, all International Communities around the world and all honest Iraqis to condemn these cowardly act by Kurdish militias' occupied regions, which can obscure the true voice of the Iraqi citizen to express his/her opinion in the selection of representatives.

Best Regards,

Mirza Ismail
chairman
London Yezidis Community-Canada
P.O.Box 39045
London,ON NY5L51
ezidis@gmail.com
yezidis.canada@yahoo.ca

Yezidi Minority Accuses Kurdish Party of Violations Ahead of Elections

GMT 1-27-2009 0:24:30
Assyrian International News Agency


Sinjar, Iraq (AINA) --- The leader of the Yezidi Movement for Progress and Reform, Amin Farhan, accused last Thursday the Kurdish Democratic Party, led by Massoud Barazani, of election violations in the mainly Yezidi area in northern Iraq, reported Voices of Iraq. The KDP party is accused of using Iraqi army soldiers of Kurdish origin to carry out election campaign work, such as putting up posters in Yezidi towns and villages and giving special protection to KDP officials who hold rallies.

"The Yezidi Movement for Progress and Reform has filed a complaint with the Iraqi Election Commission office in Mosul, providing proof in the form of video tapes of the acts of the soldiers", said Amin Farhan, who is the only independent Yezidi member of parliament in Iraq.

In the 2005 Iraqi elections, Kurdish militias attached to the KDP party rigged elections in minority areas, preventing tens of thousands of Assyrians and Yezidies from casting their votes.

The U.S. Department of State's 2005 Human Rights Country Report for Iraq states:
"In the January elections, many of the mostly non-Muslim residents on the Nineveh Plain were unable to vote. Some polling places did not open, ballot boxes were not delivered, and incidents of voter fraud and intimidation occurred. These problems resulted from administrative breakdowns on voting day and the refusal of Kurdish security forces to allow ballot boxes to pass to predominantly Christian villages."

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