ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday said Kurds and Yazidis deserve her country’s support during her annual summer press conference held in Berlin. “We have always tried to support the Yazidi people and the Kurdish people who are under threat. We will continue to do that in parliament as well,” Merkel told Rudaw’s Alla Shally through an online portal, noting that to her “helping them is important.” She didn’t comment on the parliament’s future plans in supporting the Kurds and Yazidis. Merkel has been serving as chancellor of Germany for 16 years. In 2014 and when Islamic State (ISIS) group attacked Iraq, Germany assisted in training and equipping the Peshmerga forces enabling the fight against the group while seeking to prevent the genocide against the Yazidis. ISIS swept across Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014. Minority groups especially suffered under the terror group's rule, including Yazidis, Shabaks, and Christians. The group was territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017. More than 6,000 Yazidis were kidnapped when ISIS attacked their heartland of Shingal in Nineveh province, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Office for Rescuing Kidnapped Yazidis. Over 2,000 remain missing. Evidence has established that the ISIS crimes committed against the group “truly” constitute genocide, Karim Khan, head of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL (UNITAD) told the UN in May.
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