Turkmen bloc urges expanding Yazidi Survivors Law protections

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Turkmen Front parliamentary bloc leader Ersat Salihi called on Saturday for amendments to the Yazidi Survivors Law to extend its protections to Turkmen, Shabak, Christian, and other children abducted or abused by ISIS.

Salihi argued that the current law excludes many Turkmen children taken from Tal Afar, including girls and boys who were under 18 at the time. He urged Parliament's leadership and political blocs to place a presidency-proposed amendment on the legislative agenda.

ISIS captured Tal Afar on June 15, 2014, shortly after seizing Mosul and before its assault on Sinjar, abducting large numbers of Turkmen women and children, some of whom remain missing, he noted.

The group overran Sinjar in August that year, killing and abducting an estimated 12,000 Yazidis in atrocities internationally recognized as genocide. Nearly 2,900 remained missing as of August 2025.

About the Law

Parliament passed Yazidi Survivors Law No. 8 of 2021 to provide reparations for victims of ISIS atrocities and recognize crimes against Yazidis, Turkmen, Christians, and Shabaks as genocide and crimes against humanity.

Article 2 covers Yazidi children abducted before turning 18, as well as women and girls from the Turkmen, Christian, and Shabak communities subjected to specified crimes. The proposed change would broaden the child provision to include other affected communities.

The law provides financial compensation, rehabilitation, education, and employment support and mandates efforts to locate missing members of the four communities.