In a speech, the President of the Kurdistan Region described the announcement of the Yazidi Survivors’ Network as an important step in which survivors themselves become the owners of the initiative, voice and effective role in matters and decisions related to their rights and future. He also reaffirmed that his office would continue working to free and return the last abductee and announced the Kurdistan Region’s full support for realizing their rights and rebuilding Sinjar.
On Wednesday morning, 21 October 2026, a ceremony was held in Erbil to announce the Yazidi Survivors’ Network. The event was attended by a number of officials and guests from inside and outside the Kurdistan Region.
Representing Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region, Dilshad Shahab, the President’s aide, delivered the message of the President of the Kurdistan Region.
Here is the text:
Distinguished attendees,
Dear sisters and brothers who are survivors,
Good day,
Welcome to Erbil, everyone..
It is a source of happiness that this distinct ceremony is being held today—not merely to revive the painful memory of the genocide and the crimes of the ISIS terrorists against our Yazidi compatriots, but rather to witness the initiative and beginning of a new phase for the survivors, with their will and determination to rebuild a new life and a better future.
The Yazidis, through their resilience and fearlessness, proved that terrorism, with all its crimes and brutality, could not break their will or extinguish their hope for life. They demonstrated that they remain determined to rise again, regain their rights and build a better future for themselves and their children.
Today’s announcement of the Yazidi Survivors’ Network expresses this will and is an important step toward a new phase in which survivors themselves become the owners of the initiative, voice and effective role in matters and decisions related to their rights and future.
We congratulate them on this step and reiterate our support for their efforts and goals. In this initiative, we see an important opportunity to strengthen cooperation and solidarity among survivors from all communities who became victims of ISIS crimes.
Distinguished attendees,
It has been our duty, and we have always supported the Yazidis in difficult and trying circumstances. On this occasion, we once again affirm that in Kurdistan, Iraq and wherever they may be, we will continue to be their supporters and defenders of their legitimate rights and identity. Likewise, as long as any abductees remain, our office will continue working to free and return them and determine their fate.
Delivering justice, guaranteeing the rights of survivors, clarifying the fate of the missing, implementing the law on Yazidi survivors, creating appropriate conditions for the return of the displaced and rebuilding Sinjar and other Yazidi areas are our main responsibilities, and we will spare no effort to fulfill them.
Survivors have the right to see justice delivered for them. They also have the right not to have their lives forever defined by the genocide; rather, opportunities must be created for them to become effective partners in building their future and their society.
We believe that listening to the survivors’ voices and involving them in decisions related to their lives and rights is a fundamental part of justice and respect for their dignity. Therefore, the success of this network will be the success of every effort to achieve justice, reconciliation, peace and coexistence.
Dear sisters and brothers,
I congratulate the survivors on their courage, resilience and determination to move forward. I congratulate them on this initiative to announce the Yazidi Survivors’ Network and hope it will become the beginning of a new phase of hope, work and achievements.
I also thank the Yazda organization for its efforts. I thank the German government, the German international development agency (GIZ), and all the partners and supporters of this initiative.
May you always be successful. Thank you very much.
Nechirvan Barzani
President of the Kurdistan Region
21/10/2026
