Report says Turkey should face international court over Yazidi genocide

Report says Turkey should face international court over Yazidi genocide
“Turkish officials knew and/or were wilfully blind to evidence that these individuals would use this training to commit prohibited acts against the Yazidis.”
July 6, 2022, 10:39 am

Iraqi Yazidi people who fled their homes in Sinjar, enter Iraq from Syria at a border crossing in Faysh Khabur in Dohuk Province, northern Iraq on Aug. 9, 2014. (Adam FergusonThe New York Times)

An investigation endorsed by British human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy has said that Turkey should face charges in front of the international court of justice for being complicit in acts of genocide against the Yazidi people, while Syria and Iraq failed in their duty to prevent the killings.

The groundbreaking report, prepared by a group of prominent human rights lawyers, seeks to highlight the binding responsibility that states have to prevent genocide on their soil, even if it is carried out by a third party such as the Islamic State (ISIS), The Guardian reported.

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, chair of the YJC, the group that includes lawyers under the title Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC), has described the genocide of the Yazidi people as “madness heaped on evil”.

It is widely accepted that genocide was attempted against the Yazidis, a religious minority, from 2013 in Iraq and Syria.

The report, which followed a three-year inquiry that investigated the conduct of 13 countries, concluded three of them failed in their duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the genocide.

Turkish officials turned a blind eye to the sale, transfer and enslavement of Yazidi women and children, and helped train fighters affiliated with IS to fight its Kurdish enemies in Syria, so strengthening the perpetrators of the genocide - Photo. Pixabay

In the case of Turkey, the committee went further by accusing its leaders of being complicit in the massacres, alleging it failed to police its borders to halt the free flow of IS fighters, including a significant number of Turkish nationals. Turkish officials have said the criticisms are baseless.

The committee claimed that from April 2014, Turkish officials turned a blind eye to the sale, transfer and enslavement of Yazidi women and children, and helped train fighters affiliated with IS to fight its Kurdish enemies in Syria, so strengthening the perpetrators of the genocide.

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The report said: “Turkish officials knew and/or were wilfully blind to evidence that these individuals would use this training to commit prohibited acts against the Yazidis.”

The report noted similar allegations have been made against some Gulf states, including Qatar, but insufficient evidence was produced.

The Turkish ambassador to the UK, Ümit Yalçın, said the criticisms were baseless and unfair.

He said Turkey “starting from the early years of the conflict in Syria played a key role in the protection of Syrian civilians and minorities, including Yazidis, in the region against the attacks and violations of terrorist groups.

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“Turkey not only opened its doors and became a safe heaven for millions of Syrians and Yazidis but also provided protection for the people of the region through three counter terrorism operations in Syria. Today Yazidis live peacefully in areas that are under the control of the legitimate Syrian opposition in north-western Syria.

“Moreover, last year many Yazidi families that took refugee in north-western Syria tried to return to their homes in Syria’s north-east but [were] prevented from doing so by PKK/YPG [the initials of the Kurdish groups in Turkey and Syria].”

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