Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani today announced the liberation of Sinjar by peshmerga forces and thanked the US and other coalition partners for their crucial air support to the operation.

In remarks to a group of journalists following the liberation of symbolic town, the President said, “Today I declare Sinjar liberated. I congratulate the people of Kurdistan, in particular the Yezidis. Sinjar has become a symbol of the oppression of the people of Kurdistan. We have delivered on our pledge to liberate Sinjar.”

The President added that other than the peshmerga forces and coalition air support, no other forces were involved in the operation. He also called on the international community and the Iraqi federal government to help the KRG rebuild Sinjar so that its people can return to their homes. 

Erbil, Kurdistan Region (dfr.gov.krd) – Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir today received Baroness Anelay of St Johns, Minister of State at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and UK Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Baroness Anelay announced, “I came here to launch international protocol on dealing with rape and sexual violence in conflict, our aim is to help KRG in the process of providing guidelines on the investigation of sex crimes and the collection of evidence on the crimes committed against Yezidi women for future prosecutions.”

“I would like to congratulate the Kurdistan Region on the way it has welcomed such a large number of Syrian refugees and Iraqi displaced people. The Kurdistan Region has been a great example to the rest of the world and we are grateful for that,” Baroness Anelay added.

Minister Bakir stressed that international community has a duty to step forward and provide the necessary medical and psychological treatment for the Yezidi women who have been victims of ISIS’s sexual violence.

The KRG Minister encouraged Baroness Anelay to assist KRG to increase awareness about the crimes committed against Yezidi women by the ISIS terrorists through organizing conferences.

Both sides agreed to work together to find ways to bring perpetrators of sexual violence against Yezidi women to justice and to ensure that there will be no impunity for them. They expressed delight at the level of bilateral relations between Kurdistan and the UK and reiterated the commitment of their governments to continue working together.

Ms. Evar Ibrahim, member of the Kurdistan Parliament and chair of the parliamentary committee on women, briefed the delegation on the activities of the parliamentary committee in documenting crimes committed against Yezidi women by the ISIS terrorists as well as supporting the rescued Yezidi women.

The Meeting was also attended by the UK Consul General to Erbil, Angus McKee, KRG Representative to UK, Karwan Jamal, and Assistant Head of DFR, Siham mamand. 

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (cabinet.gov.krd) - Kurdistan Region Prime Minster, Nechirvan Barzani, yesterday received the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, ICC, Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his accompanying delegation.

The two sides discussed the situation of the victims of terrorist attacks, particularly the Yazidi Kurds who last year were subject to barbaric attacks by Islamic State terrorist organisation, ISIS.

They highlighted the efforts exerted by Kurdistan Regional Government, KRG, to obtain international recognition of the crimes committed against Yazidi Kurds as genocide.

Prime Minister Barzani briefed the delegation about the tasks undertaken by KRG Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs in this regard.

Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo expressed his sympathy to the Yazidi community, the people and the government of Kurdistan Region, reiterating his support to the KRG efforts in obtaining genocide recognition of the Yazidi case, considering it as a humanitarian case which is important for the entire humanity.

Prime Minister Barzani expressed his and his government’s gratitude to Mr. Moreno-Ocampo for his support. He noted that the KRG will continue its efforts to liberate the Yazidi men and women who still are remained captive at the hands of ISIS.

Prime Minister Barzani meanwhile thanked the NGO’s and aid agencies for offering assistance to the victims of terrorism.

The President of the Kurdistan parliament, Dr. Yusuf Muhammad Sadiq, and his accompanied delegation, including of the representatives of the minority ethnic groups in Kurdistan, was received by the foreign minister of Holland, Frans Timmermans, on Wednesday, September 10, 2014. In a meeting, Dr Yusuf asked the Holland’s government to cooperate with the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) in the war against Islamic State (IS) militants since Peshmerga forces fight IS in the name of the world in order to protect human values.

Kurdistan parliament speaker, Dr. Yusif Muhammad Sadiq, and the delegation accompanied with him, came back to Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan region, after a one-week visit to Holland. The main goal of the visit was to meet Holland’s politicians and to supply humanitarian, political, and military aids for the Kurdistan region.

Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq (KRG.org) – The Kurdistan Regional Government urges the participants of tomorrow’s international conference held in Paris, which focuses on Iraq’s security, the incidents in Sinjar, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, to seriously address the situation of the displaced and assist in providing aid to the great number of internally displaced Iraqis, in addition to discussing political and military matters.

The KRG calls upon Arab states to fulfill their humanitarian duties in aiding the displaced, the majority of whom are Yezidi Kurds, Christians, and Sunni Arabs from the Ninevah plains.

The KRG calls upon the international community to come forward and help the KRG in providing necessary aid to the displaced people that fled the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorist attacks on Sinjar and the Ninevah plains and are taking refuge in the Kurdistan Region in general and Duhok province in particular. This is especially important because the winter season will soon begin.

The KRG plea for action comes from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, composed of ministers and other officials, after discussion regarding the humanitarian situation of the displaced people from Sinjar and the Ninevah plains in order to follow-up their needs and resolve related issues. Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani chaired the meeting.

A field report regarding the humanitarian situation of the displaced was presented during the meeting. It focused on educational issues and the schools in the Duhok province currently sheltering the displaced families. In the meeting, it was decided to begin building camps in order to vacate the schools so that the academic year could begin. It was also decided that the Duhok Governor's office and related provincial institutions should be supported to enable them to overcome shortcomings. A similar meeting will soon take place in Duhok to carefully analyse the situation with related officials and institutions and to consider their views.

In the meeting it was also decided that relevant KRG institutions should fully coordinate and follow-up with international organisations. In addition, a KRG delegation will visit Baghdad and meet with federal authorities about the situation of displaced people, because the humanitarian crisis currently unfolding is beyond the capacity of the Kurdistan Region. The Iraqi Government should therefore fulfill its legal and constitutional duty.

Finally the KRG extended its commendation and gratitude to the people of Kurdistan, and especially the people of the Duhok governorate, for all the aid and support they have been providing to the displaced from the earliest days of the crisis.

Salahadin, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, (krp.org)- A statement was released by the Kurdistan Region Presidency today regarding the new outlined strategy by the Obama administration vis-a-vis the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS. The statement commences by stating that the terror displayed by ISIS is not only a threat against Iraq and Syria but rather against the free world in its entirety.

The statement also states that the Kurdistan Region Presidency finds pride in the fact that the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Region are in the forefront of the war against terrorism, a war which not only affects the people of the Kurdistan Region, but also the free world as a whole.

President Obama's new strategy of taking ISIS as a direct enemy and launching a campaign against the Islamic State, the statement says is welcomed and appreciated by the Kurdistan Region Presidency, and that such actions should be undertaken by other anti-terrorism forces in the free world. The new U.S. strategy will certainly work towards weakening the ISIS with the ultimate aim of eradication.

The Kurdistan Region has witnessed displacement of tens of thousands of Yezidi, Christian and Turkmen citizens in the recent months as a direct result of the terrorism of ISIS. The statement adds that the Kurdistan Region has allocated and shall continue to allocate its financial and other resources in its war against terrorism.

Salahadin, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, (krp.org)- President Barzani received a delegation from the Assyrian Church of the East today at his office in Salahadin. The delegation was headed by a special envoy from Mar Dinkha IV, the current Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.

During the meeting the delegation expressed their support for the Kurdistan Region for its efforts against the terrorists of the ISIS. The delegation also conveyed a message of peace from Mar Dinkha IV and expressed, on his behalf the Church's appreciation for the Kurdistan Region's management of the current IDP crisis facing the Region.

President Barzani reiterated his stance of coexistence to the delegation and added that the Kurdistan Region is home to all religious minorities without exception. President Barzani also stated that the Kurdistan Region has been home to Muslims, Christians and Yezidis for centuries and that ISIS would not be able to alter that way of life.