INA – Baghdad
The President of the Republic of Iraq, Barham Salih said during the burial ceremony for exhumed victims of the Kocho massacre, that “war against terrorism is still needed,”
This came according to a statement by the Media Office of the President that was received by Iraqi News Agency – INA.
Hundreds of inhabitants of the village of Kocho, Sinjar, in northern Iraq were murdered by the extremist group known as Daesh. A number have been exhumed and identified as it is now being re-buried.
The President expressed his condolences to the victims' families and to all victims of the extremists' inhumanity and violence. The President said that “what had happened to Iraq's Yazidi people must never be allowed to happen again”
This would involve the efforts of all Iraqis, their government and their allies, President Salih said, as they worked together toward an environment where extremism and terrorism could not flourish.
“It would also involve the instatement of legislation to prevent incitement or the targeting of any particular group of people in Iraq, based upon their religious, ethnic or sectarian affiliations, as well as methods to prevent logistical or other support for extremist groups in Iraq”
In his speech, President Salih also called upon both local and international security forces, “not only to continue the fight against the remaining Daesh cells in the country, but to redouble efforts to determine the fate of around 2,000 Yazidis who were still missing”
“There were also other steps that needed to be taken to bring security and peace back to Yazidi community,” the President added, “this included assisting the displaced to return to Sinjar and ensuring that the Sinjar area was properly administered and serviced,”
Finally in the speech, President Salih urged the Iraqi Parliament to pass the Yazidi Female Survivors Law as quickly as possible and advocated for ongoing professional exhumation from the mass graves in Sinjar, so that the results could be used as evidence in court against members of Daesh group, in the future.
The text of the speech follows:
"In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful,
Ladies and gentlemen,
As we gather here on this painful and sad occasion, we remember the atrocities committed against our people by the criminals and murderers belonging to the extremist Islamic State group. The crimes that this group committed against our Yazidi community are some of the most heinous, the most shameful and the most inhumane.
That is why it is absolutely essential that we continue to work together to completely rid the world, and the Iraqi people, of these extremist groups and their threats.
A list of atrocities – mass graves, thousands of missing men and women, other women and girls sold into slavery, devastated cities, towns and villages, the destruction of holy shrines – reflect the abnormal mindset of the terrorists, their contempt for basic humanity and decency and even their indifference to the most basic rules of combat and warfare.
This requires the humanitarian community to redouble our efforts to determine how to completely eradicate terrorism and extremism. Its sources of financing must be cut off, and its disinformation campaigns and strategies to radicalize shut down. It must be denied any further human resources.
We did manage to defeat the extremist Islamic State group. Iraq's cities, towns and villages have been liberated from this scourge. This was achieved through the determination of the Iraqi people themselves and the bravery of the Iraqi armed forces of all kinds, along with support from our friends and allies.
But there are still many tasks ahead of this government."