Shengal (Sinjar)- The Yazidi Free Women's Movement (Kurdish: Tevgera Azadiya Jinên Êzîdî-TAJÊ) issued Monday a press statement to mark the 11th anniversary of the genocide committed against the Yazidi community by ISIS in 2014.

Many women gathered at the old marketplace in Shengal to support the movement.

Emşê Korkorkî, Spokesperson of the Shengal People's Assembly, was one of the women gathered at the marketplace. “We will take revenge for the women abducted, killed and raped by ISIS. We will keep struggling to ensure that the genocide is not forgotten,” said Emşê Korkorkî, reminding that there are still mass graves in Shengal and these graves have not been unopened yet.”

‘There is no freedom in a place where women are killed’

The genocide affected not only the Yazidi community but also all women in the world, Emşê Korkorkî emphasized and said, “Women continue to face massacres and genocidal attacks. There is no freedom in a place where women are killed.”

Emşê Korkorkî criticized the Iraqi government for not recognizing the crimes committed against the Yazidi community by ISIS in 2014 as a genocide and said, “Our own power is sufficient for us. We will fight and break the chains of slavery.”

‘The PKK protected us against the atrocities of ISIS’

“Our life has changed since we learned the thoughts and ideology of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan,” said Leylê Şeref, a member of the Shengal Autonomous Administration in Til Ezer.

“The members of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) came and protected the Yazidi community. We would all be killed if they had not protected us from ISIS. They gave us water and food and protected us against the atrocities of ISIS. Since the genocide, we have educated ourselves and learned the thoughts and ideology of the leader. We will never forget the genocide and let it be forgotten.”