Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish, Iraqi, and German politicians acknowledged in Germany on Sunday that a myriad of challenges are still faced by the Yazidi community at a ceremony to commemorate ten years since the Islamic State’s (ISIS) genocide against the minority group.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, Rebar Ahmed, interior minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and a group of German politicians attended the event at historic St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt.

Frank Schwabe, a German MP at the ceremony on Sunday, told Rudaw that the Yazidi genocide was “a particularly severe example of religious oppression.” He added that “Germany tries to advocate for these threatened minorities.”

Derya Turk-Nachbaur, another German MP, told Rudaw that they intend soon to hold talks with the Iraqi government and KRG to develop a joint strategy to ensure the safe return of Yazidis to Shingal (Sinjar). 

Many Yazidis still living inside and outside internally displaced person (IDP) camps in the Kurdistan Region have been reluctant to return to Shingal. Some who left to their homelands have been forced to return to the camps due to a lack of infrastructure and security.

“Germany is involved with some funds there,” Nachbaur added. “We are doing a lot of reconstruction; we have built and established hospitals in Shingal.”

In January 2023, the German parliament (Bundestag) recognized ISIS’ crimes against Yazidis as “genocide;” however, the government has increased its efforts to return asylum seekers whose applications had been rejected to their countries.

The largest Yazidi diaspora is in Germany where more than 200,000 members of the ethno-religious group live. Many emigrated to Europe on their own or with the help of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

“It makes no sense to deport these people, ” Peter Heidt, another German MP, told Rudaw. “The ministry told me that only those who violate the law have been deported so far. Today, I learned here at the event that non-criminals have also been deported.”

In August 2023, a German interior ministry spokesperson told Rudaw that Germany had rejected the cases of 31,000 Iraqi asylum seekers in recent years; additionally, many were notified to leave the country. Asylum and immigration are complex and contentious issues in Germany which have become heavily debated with the genocide designation. 

Last October, hundreds of Yazidis protested for days outside Germany’s parliament and other federal buildings against the announced deportations, with many going on hunger strikes.

At an event to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide on Saturday in the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil, its president, Nechirvan Barzani, said Yazidis are still suffering from the consequences of the genocide, adding the fate of 2,596 of the at least 6,417 Yazidis who were abducted by ISIS remains unclear. 

“I will start clarifying this from Monday because a criminal can be deported,” German MP Heidt said at the ceremony on Sunday. “I also think that is right. But if someone is not a criminal, then they should not be deported.”