Shengal- Arab and Yazidi women issued a joint statement under the leadership of the Yazidi Free Women's Movement (Kurdish: Tevgera Azadiya Jinên Êzîdî-TAJÊ). The statement condemned the massacres that took place in Paris on January 9, 2013 and on December 23, 2022 and the murder of Kurdish revolutionary Menal Mêrdin in Shengal on January 2, 2023. The Kurdish statement was read by Suham Şengali, Spokesperson of TAJÊ’s Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy Committee, and the Arabic statement was read by Fatime Xelîl, member of the Arab Women’s Assembly in Shengal.

Drawing attention to the ongoing attacks on Shengal, Suham Şengali said that the aim of the attacks is to break stability and struggle in the region. “As Yazidi and Arab women in Shengal, we condemn the attack on comrade Menal Mêrdin on January 2. The attack was an attack against all groups living in Shengal. The attack carried out by the MIT (National Intelligence Organization) and the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) will never go unpunished. The aim of this attack was to break the resistance of Yazidi people. Recently, many people have returned to Shengal because the stability has been ensured in Shengal. MIT and the KDP use all kinds of methods to destroy this stability,” Suham Şengali said in the statement.

‘We will maintain the struggle of our martyrs’

In the statement, Arab and Yazidi women also condemned the massacres that took place in Paris on January 9, 2013 and on December 23, 2022. “We will never forget our martyrs. Comrade Menal, who made great efforts for 43 years, has become a symbol for us. The attack on him was also against Yazidi people and the people from all nations in the region. We will never leave our lands and our country. We will maintain the struggle of our martyrs.”

After the statement was read, people chanted the slogan, “Martyrs are immortal”