ICC NOTE: Ethnic and religious minorities directly affected by ISIS responded to Secretary Kerry’s genocide determination with both hope and skepticism. Many are happy to hear the United States has determined the actions of ISIS to be genocide, but wish to see more happen. A resolution from the United Nations would greatly improve the chance of direct action against ISIS along with the liberation of the Nineveh plain and no-fly zones. Other’s believe even though the State Department and the U.S. Congress have determined it to be genocide, they are non-binding resolutions which does not require immediate or future action. Whether the United States will intervene on a grander scale is still in debate, but the fact is the actions of ISIS are in fact genocide as they are systematically eradicating religious minorities and ethnic minorities like the Assyrian community. 

3/21/2016 Iraq (Breitbart) – Representatives from the religious minority community in the Middle East strongly support the Obama administration’s decision to finally concede that the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is committing genocide against their people.

Breitbart News spoke with two Christians, two Yezidis, and a Shiite Turkmen about the recent declaration by the U.S. State Department that the atrocities committed by ISIS against members of their community constitutes genocide and humanity crimes.

“The Turkmen Rescue Foundation (TRF) stands in solidarity with the Assyrian Christians and Yezidis and considers this declaration an important step to relieve the suffering of all appressed communities in Iraq and Syria,” Dr. Ali Akram Al Bayati, a Shiite Turkmen and TRF chief, told Breitbart News. “We also support a resolution from the United Nations for the same purpose.”

He noted that the TRF appreciates Kerry’s determination.

Fr. Behnam Benoka, a Syriac Catholic priest from Iraq, welcomed the Obama administration’s genocide declaration as “good news.”

“Finally, we see a light shining for our future. From this historical moment we can see hope for our the upcoming days,” the priest from the Catholic church, which is in full communion with the Holy See of Rome, told Breitbart News via e-mail. “May this important declaration be followed by an official declaration from U.S. and U.N. to stop the acts of brutality, specially against undefended religious minorities in Iraq and Syria.”

Fr. Benoka added that he hopes to “see further actions following this declaration”:

The liberation of Iraq’s Nineveh Plain.
Securing peace in that area by an international force (not Arabs or Muslims)
Ensuring that the rights and human dignity of the religious minorities (especially Christians and Yezidis) are cemented in the Iraqi and Syrian constitutions.
Omar Haider and Khalid Sulaiman Haider, two Yezidi activists originally from the Iraqi border town of Sinjar who now live in the U.S. because of threats against them, also reacted to Kerry’s genocide declaration.

They noted that the atrocities committed by ISIS are unprecedented and blamed the Shiite-led Iraqi government for allowing the genocide to carry on.

Both activists served as translators for the U.S. government in Iraq. Breitbart News learned that Omar lost 36 family members in 2014 when ISIS attacked the Iraqi town of Sinjar, located in Nineveh province, which is also home to many members of northern Iraq’s Christian community.

Although both Omar and Khalid share the same common Yezidi tribal last name, they are not related.

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