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An Urgent Appeal to the International Community: Protecting the Kurdish people and preventing the forced displacement of our nation in our land can only be achieved through a mutual stance on this matter.

The Joint Diplomatic Committee of Kurdish Organisations and Parties, 30 September 2014

Following a series of brutal ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) attacks on Kurdistan, on 10/08/2014 the Foreign Relations Commission of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) sent an urgent request to the foreign offices of all the Kurdish parties across the diaspora to initiate joint lobbying and diplomatic relations.

Subsequently a meeting took place on 17/08/2014 at the Kurdistan National Congress in Brussels. Following discussions, a Joint Diplomatic Committee comprising representatives of each of the political parties and the organisations who attended the meeting was established in order to carry out diplomatic relations.

A second meeting took place at the KNK on 28/09/2014, with a higher number of participants from foreign relations offices of the Kurdish political parties and organisations. In this meeting, an Inclusive Management Committee was established to coordinate diplomatic relations. It was also decided that similar Diplomatic Committees should be in other countries for handling mutual diplomatic activities.

In the meeting, the political situation in Kurdistan was widely discussed. It was reaffirmed that the achievements in both South and West Kurdistan have encountered brutal terrorist threats. Therefore, the protection of these achievements is our national and patriotic duty. Accordingly, it was decided that a request should be directed to all the Kurdish forces to have a shared and common memorandum in their diplomatic approach and to make efforts to establish a national defence line against these threats.

The ISIS terrorist attacks began on Mosul on 10th June 2014, and 8th August on Shangal. Attacks are still continuing in Jalawla and Makhmour with mass killings of Yezidi Kurds and the other minorities in Kurdistan, including Assyrians, Chaldyans and Turkmens and Shia Muslims in the Mesopotamia region. Hundreds of thousands of Yezidi Kurds and other minorities in Shangal and in and around Mosul have been forced to flee and are displaced from their homeland. Tens of thousands were left thirsty and starving for days and thousands more have been killed on mass, many of them being buried alive. Thousands of Yezidi women have been taken captive, kidnapped, held as slaves and sold on markets.

These acts are committed openly in the 21st century with the awareness of the international community. The international stance on this issue has been weak and in fact, it was the Kurdish forces alone that came to the rescue of the people of Shangal and saved them from a far greater genocide. Therefore, we send our sincere greetings to the Kurdish fighters and praise them on their immense bravery.

With the bravery of the Kurdish forces and assistance from the international community, the ISIS attacks on the Kurdish Regional Government came to halt. Following that, ISIS, taking advantage of the military weapons equipment that they seized from Mosul and weapons stores in Tikrit, they changed their focus of attack onto Western Kurdistan and specifically on Kobane Canton.

In the least three weeks, ISIS has intensified its attacks on Kobane, taking advantage of long-range artillery capacity, heavy weaponry and modern tanks. However, the courageous people of Kobane are sacrificing their lives and bravely defending their city. It is with regret that the coalition forces have still not taken serious measures to curb ISIS advance on Kobane. This is surprising given the expanding international support for the Kurds of Kobane and increasing concern from the international public for the welfare of the city’s residents.

Our nation appreciates the aid and assistance; however this is not sufficient and more needs to be done. Our nation wishes to raise its voice to the world, to the international alliance, and say that humanitarian aid is not enough to save the people. Instead, they need weapons and military equipment. Also the coalition air force should heavily bombard ISIS bases and their defence line.

In this Mutual Diplomatic Committee, the ISIS attacks taking place under the name of Islam has been condemned and regarded as an attack on Islam.

It is apparent ISIS are not alone. They receive political, logistical and military support from some regional states. The meeting between the Kurdish foreign office representatives see this international coalition as a positive step.

Protecting the Kurdish people and preventing the forced displacement of our nation in our father land can only be achieved through a mutual stance on this matter.

With this foundation, the Joint Diplomatic Committee of the Kurdistan Organisations and Parties sates that:

1. Currently there is an excessive attack on Kobane. For this reason, we appeal to the international coalition’s air force to strike and hit ISIS defence lines, bunkers, bases and assets around Kobane;

2. Providing the military, economy, humanitarian and political aid to Western Kurdistan is a progressive step. We also appeal to the international community to consider the same help for the Cantons of Rojava in Kurdistan;

3. We strongly reject the Turkish Government’s plan to set up a `buffer zone` and `no fly zone` in the region and we consider this as an invasion of Kurdistan therefore we call on the International Community to not accept this and prevent from happening.

4. We call on the Parliament of the Kurdish Regional Government to formally recognise the administration of the Cantons in Rojava and urgently to aid them with weapons and military equipment.

5. We recognise the kidnapping and abusing of the Kurdish, Christians, Turkmen, Yezidis and Shia Muslim women as a humanitarian crisis. We request the Kurdish nation and international democratic community to take sincere steps to free them and protect them.

6. It is necessary to take political, economic and military action for the protection of the Yezidi in Shangal and surrounding area, for the protection Assyrians - Chaldyans – the Syriani (or Syriacs) in the Mosul area and for the protection of the Turkmen in Talahfar