It’s been four years since ISIS tried to annihilate the Yazidi population in northwest Iraq ~

When ISIS invaded Sinjar in August 2014, hundreds of defenseless Yazidi men and elderly women were murdered. Yazidi girls and women became the victims of widespread abduction and slavery. ISIS “deliberately tormented the relatives of Yazidis who were forced to witness or listen over the phone as their daughters and sisters were abused,” according to a 2017 report by Yazda, a Yazidi advocacy organization. The report also reveals that Yazidi boys were kidnapped and recruited to undergo forced conversion and military training.

Source: Gatestone Institute

Now it appears that Turkey’s Islamist president is determined to complete the genocide ~ Turkey Still Bombing and Killing Minorities, Even in Iraq ~

Turkish fighter jets launched airstrikes on the Sinjar district on Wednesday (August 15th). The strikes killed a (an alleged) leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK, member of the Yazidi Society Coordination and a commander of the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), Ismail Ozden known as Mam Zaki Shingali.

 
 
Ahmed Mahjoub, spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denies the Turks’ claim the attack was coordinated with Iraq. Further, he called on Turkey to withdraw its troops from Iraqi territory, saying their presence is contrary to the international conventions.
 

Although still a member of NATO, Turkey is acting less and less deserving of that membership. As I’ve blogged about several times, they’re still holding American Pastor Andrew Brunson under house arrest, on phony charges of spying.
 
Thankfully, President Trump has now stepped in, applying pressure to facilitate Brunson’s release by imposing sanctions and increasing tariffs on steel and aluminum. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is increasingly defiant ~

The surprise US tariffs announced on 10 August sharply rocked the Turkish markets, pushing the lira to a record low of nearly 20 per cent in one day. Erdoğan called for a boycott of US electronic devices and then announced tariffs against US cars, alcohol, tobacco and other imports.
 
“You can never bring this nation in line with the language of threats,” Erdoğan responded. “It is a pity that you choose a pastor over your strategic partner in NATO.”

Within days of that outburst, our strategic partner in NATO was attacking ethnic minorities in Iraq. Johannes de Jong has been in direct contact with several Yazidi friends in Sinjar. One of them sent him the following message on August 15th ~

“Sinjar has been bombed by Turkish airstrikes half an hour ago. One of our leaders and several others have been killed.”

For centuries, Yazidis have been the most fiercely persecuted ethnic group in Syria and Iraq. During the ISIS assault in 2014, National Geographic featured a background piece ~ Who Are the Yazidis, the Ancient, Persecuted Religious Minority Struggling to Survive in Iraq? ~

The Yazidis have inhabited the mountains of northwestern Iraq for centuries, and the region is home to their holy places, shrines, and ancestral villages. Outside of Sinjar, the Yazidis are concentrated in areas north of Mosul, and in the Kurdish-controlled province of Dohuk. For Yazidis, the land holds deep religious significance; adherents from all over the world—remnant communities exist in Turkey, Germany, and elsewhere—make pilgrimages to the holy Iraqi city of Lalesh […]
 
 
The Yazidi religion is often misunderstood, as it does not fit neatly into Iraq’s sectarian mosaic. Most Yazidis are Kurdish speakers, and while the majority consider themselves ethnically Kurdish, Yazidis are religiously distinct from Iraq’s predominantly Sunni Kurdish population. Yazidism is an ancient faith, with a rich oral tradition that integrates some Islamic beliefs with elements of Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian religion, and Mithraism, a mystery religion originating in the Eastern Mediterranean.

 
Unfortunately for the Yazidi people, their unique religious beliefs can not be tolerated by the intolerant Islamists – be they ISIS terrorists – or Turkish fundamentalists. And Turkey, under Erdoğan, is growing more fundamentalist by the day.
 
In pursuit of his megalomaniacal ambitions for a reconstituted Ottoman Empire, he’s becoming ever more aggressive with his neighbors. Not just attempting ethnic cleansing of the Yazidis, but against the Kurds in Syria.
 

It’s good to know we have someone in the White House who is willing and able to stand up to a tyrant like Erdoğan. In the wake of Turkey’s Sinjar bombing, Johannes de Jong is calling for an even tougher stance ~

Now it’s time for President Trump to flex America’s muscles. Tell Turkey it can’t use NATO jets to randomly commit airstrikes against innocent minorities in Iraq. The easiest way to do so is to declare Sinjar a no-fly zone for Turkish jets. Erdogan is testing the resolve of President Trump. The answer should be clear, as Reagan’s was to Gorbachev: “Mr. Erdogan, call off those planes!”

 
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Related:
Turkish government using US mosques to spread “Islamist-nationalistic fervor” ~ Here’s another action the United States could be taking to thwart Erdoğan: monitor the radical mosques his government has been funding – in America.
 
Years after Genocide, Yazidis Urgently Need Help ~

“War and genocide, which Yazidis have recently experienced once again, cause the destruction of the human soul. Yazidis in general suffer from an unprecedented psychological crisis. They have lost hope of living a decent life. I call for providing healthcare and psychological treatment facilities to help all Yazidis, especially women and children survivors, who have managed to escape from the ISIS slavery.” [Dawood Saleh, a Yazidi author and activist who fled, was in Sinjar when ISIS launched the genocide there in 2014.]

 
Erdogan’s Crimes against Humanity; Turkey Bombs Yazidi Homeland ~ This was in April 2017
 
Hidden agendas cloak Turkish-US feud over jailed pastor
 
Iraq condemns Turkish airstrikes on Sinjar, denies coordination
 

Qatar and Turkey: Toxic Allies in the Gulf
 
Ankara Tries Turkish Cypriot Journalist for Criticizing Turkey
 
Justice for Victims of Yezidi Genocide?
 
They Came, They Killed, They Destroyed And It Will Happen Again
 
Yazidi Slavery, Child Trafficking, Death Threats to Journalist: Should Turkey Remain in NATO? ~

Addressing the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on December 9, 2015, Mirza Ismail, founder and chairman of the Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International, said, in part:
 
“We Yezidis are desperate for your immediate help and support. During our six-thousand-year history, Yezidis have faced 74 genocides in the Middle East, including the ongoing genocide. Why? Simply because we are not Muslims. We are an ancient and proud people from the heart of Mesopotamia, the birth place of civilization and the birth place of many of the world’s religions. And here we are today, in 2015, on the verge of annihilation. In response to our suffering around the World there is profound, obscene silence. We Yezidis are considered ‘Infidels’ in the eyes of Muslims, and so they are encouraged to kill, rape, enslave, and convert us.”