Shafaq News – Erbil

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Monday opened the International Academic Conference in Erbil on the 2014 Yazidi Genocide, calling it a “crucial step” in documenting the massacre and preserving it for future generations.

Barzani described the gathering—which brought together global researchers and experts to study ISIS’s crimes and their lasting impact—as a way to transform Yazidi suffering into knowledge and advocacy for justice and recognition, while recalling ISIS’s attempt on August 3, 2014, to annihilate an indigenous community in Kurdistan and Iraq through mass executions, enslavement of women, and the indoctrination of children for suicide missions.

He condemned the destruction of Yazidi temples and sacred sites as “deliberate erasure,” calling the genocide a lasting wound and a stain on humanity. “Every Yazidi survivor, every child who lost their family, is a living testimony to this catastrophe.”

Warning against turning Yazidi areas into sanctuaries for “unlawful groups” or battlegrounds for regional rivalries, Barzani pledged full cooperation with the Iraqi government to prevent such exploitation. He also vowed to continue efforts until every abducted Yazidi is freed, Sinjar gains provincial status, and international recognition of the genocide is firmly established.

The Kurdish President closed by urging all communities in Kurdistan and Iraq to protect diversity and promote coexistence, declaring, “Pluralism is a source of strength and wealth, not a problem or a threat.”