On the 11th anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide carried out by ISIS, senior Kurdish leaders urged Baghdad to implement the 2020 Sinjar Agreement.
On August 3, 2014, ISIS extremist militants overran the predominantly Yezidi town of Sinjar and abducted thousands of women and children after executing thousands of men.
According to the UN Syria Commission, ISIS committed genocide as well as multiple crimes against humanity through mass executions, forced religious conversions to Islam, enslavement, and widespread sexual violence against Yezidi women and girls.
On the 11th anniversary of the Yezidi genocide, PM Masrour Barzani renewed a call on the federal government of Iraq to compensate the Yezidis, help refugees return to their homes, and implement the UN-brokered Sinjar Agreement of 2020. pic.twitter.com/w7Z1d9TSih
— Kurdistan Chronicle (@KrdChronicle) August 3, 2025
“On this sad occasion, we reiterate that the federal government must fulfill its duties and responsibilities, compensate our Yezidi brothers and sisters, help the refugees, and pave the way for them to return to their areas with dignity through the implementation of the Sinjar Agreement and the removal of armed forces and militias from the area,” Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said.
In October 2020, Baghdad and Erbil signed the Sinjar Agreement with support of the UN in order to facilitate the return of displaced Yezidis. However, so far the agreement has not been implemented and militias continue to operate in Sinjar.
“Unfortunately, due to the failure to implement the Sinjar Agreement and the undesirable situation imposed on Sinjar after its liberation, it has not been possible to rebuild and provide necessary services to the people of the region,” Prime Minister Masrour Barzani stated.
Furthermore, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani underlined that the Iraqi government has a responsibility to fully embrace its Yezidi citizens and must no longer allow Sinjar and other predominantly Yezidi areas to remain a battleground for militias and armed groups pursuing regional agendas.
On the anniversary of the occupation of Sinjar and the genocide of our Yazidi brothers and sisters by ISIS terrorists, we respectfully commemorate the martyrs of this massacre, which is a deep wound in the history of the Kurdish people and all of humanity.https://t.co/YoWZlEBmhw pic.twitter.com/WykRkGKCij
— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) August 3, 2025
“We therefore stress the importance of implementing the agreement between the KRG and the Iraqi federal government to normalize conditions in Sinjar and elevate it to provincial status,” he emphasized.
President Masoud Barzani, who led Operation Free Sinjar with the support of the International Coalition – which oversaw the successful advance of peshmerga forces leading to the liberation of Sinjar town on November 13, 2015 – underlined that the the people of Kurdistan and the peshmerga “stood united with their brothers and sisters, striving to rescue refugees and liberate Sinjar.”
He also thanked the U.S.-led Coalition for their crucial support in assisting the peshmerga and ultimately defeating ISIS.
“This tragedy is a wound that will forever remain in our hearts,” he added. “The atrocities committed against our Yezidi brothers and sisters are part of a broader pattern of tragedies faced by the Kurdish people of Kurdistan.
“It is imperative that the Iraqi state provides compensation to the victims of the Sinjar tragedy and acknowledges the genocides committed against the people of Kurdistan,” he concluded.
