An anti-ISIS protest in Leicester

On Saturday, 06/09/2014, the Kurdish Community in Leicester held a street protest against ISIS. My honorable friends red this statement to the public:

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are gathering here today to condemn the recent attacks by the self-proclaimed ISIS militants on Iraq, targeting Arabs, Kurds and religious minorities mainly Shia Muslims, Christians, and Yazidis. Despite its brutal oppressions, the ISIS has displaced Christians and Yezidis. The ISIS militias have executed hundreds of indefensible men, women and children, and they have also enslaved lots of women. Just in one village, 420 civilian Yazidi men were shot to death. These atrocious acts of terrorism have forced tens of thousands of Yezidis to find shelter in the Sinjar Mountains where they are still calling for humanitarian aid. Not a single day passes without having Yezidi mourning.

ISIS has announced their Caliphate, stretching from a large part of Syrian territories towards Iraq. The ISIS Caliphate is now trying to advance towards Kurdistan to include Kurdistan’s territories onto their ruling land. They don’t recognise any border; they don’t respect diverse beliefs and are threatening all people from east to west.

Because of their savagery, thousands of civilians from Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, and surrounding towns and villages are fleeing to Kurdistan. Kurdistan is recently hosting around 1.5 million refugees, causing utmost difficulty in providing shelter for all these displaced. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government in Baghdad has cut down Kurdistan’s budget since January 2014, including the monthly salaries of Kurdistan employees. This financial embargo of Baghdad government against the Iraqi Kurdistan Region has further made the crisis of hosting 1.5 million refugees unsolvable. Kurdistan is now facing both military attacks from ISIS and economic crisis imposed by the Iraqi central government. We therefore are gathering today here to call for the world NOT to leave the Kurds alone. The Kurds need your help. We need the voices like yours.

We would like here to express our deep gratitude to the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and other countries who have been there for the Kurds, helping and supporting Kurdistan. The ISIS threat is currently a few miles away from Kurdistan. The ISIS is now a state with its army, flag, map and even passport. They are much more powerful than Kurdish peshmarga forces.

We are grateful to the UK for providing humanitarian aids to our brothers and sisters living there; however, we expect more from the UK. We don’t need boots on the ground. We don’t need your sons and daughters go to Kurdistan and fight for us. We have got our forces; they are capable of defending all ethnic and religious groups. We simply need weapons. We ask Mr David Cameron and his government and the UK Parliament to provide Kurdish forces with advanced weapons. Iraqi government has not yet given any bullet to our forces. Because we are still a regional government within Iraq, we are unable to buy weapons without the permission of Iraqi central government. Unfortunately, the Iraqi government neither arm Kurdish forces nor allow them to buy weapons.

In brief, if Western, Eastern and regional governments surrounding Kurdistan, do not set limits to the ISIS advancement, thousands of innocent women, children and elderly will be massacred every day. They will come to every country. They will come to the UK one day. Please everybody note that the ISIS is a serious threat to everyone and everywhere. We cannot stop them without your help. Please raise your voices and ask your government to support Kurdistan as soon as possible. Let’s hand in hand rescue all humans from threat, intimidation and fear. Thank you.