Today is the day we remember.

A day that can never be forgotten.

The betrayal. The genocide. The murders. The kidnappings and enslavement of our women and girls. The suffering that was forced upon our people.

One thing must be said clearly and directly: the KDP and the Kurdistan Regional Government left us to face ISIS.

That truth has never left us. We may not speak about it every day, but we carry it in our minds and our hearts, and we will never forget it.

Every year, they commemorate the genocide with speeches, promises, and claims that they will protect us, rebuild Sinjar, and stand with the Ezidi people. These are the same promises, repeated year after year.

Twelve years have passed, yet thousands of Ezidis are still living in tents. Many still cannot return home. Poverty has taken almost everything from them. Thousands remain missing, and justice is still out of reach.

When people turn this day into a political argument over who liberated Sinjar, they shift the focus away from the victims. They turn a day of remembrance into a political campaign.

Do not ask us to thank political parties today.

Instead, honour those who stood with courage. Honour those who chose death rather than abandon their faith. Honour the survivors who continue to carry unimaginable pain with dignity.

Remember the victims.

Remember the missing.

Stand with the truth.

Today belongs to our people.

It belongs to our pain.

It belongs to our losses.

It belongs to our survivors.

Let this day remain a day of remembrance, justice, and truth—not politics.

Yet every year, the media repeats the same narrative: that Masoud Barzani and the KDP later rescued Sinjar from ISIS. That is what they choose to remember from the 2014 genocide. But that is not what we want this day to be about.

And I want to say one last thing.

I have never believed that any single group “saved” or “rescued” Sinjar.

Some say it was the Peshmerga. Others say it was the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi). Others say it was the PKK or the YBŞ/YJŞ.

The truth is that it was the Ezidi people themselves who fought for and liberated their own homeland.

Ezidi women and men took up arms to defend and liberate Sinjar. Yes, fighters from different groups were present, and we cannot deny that some of them fought alongside us. But behind all those different names and uniforms were Ezidis fighting for their own families, their own villages, and their own future.

Sinjar was not liberated by politicians.

It was liberated through the courage, sacrifice, and determination of the Ezidi people.

We remember.

We mourn.

We will never forget.