Islamists must not benefit from help for Syria from Germany

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) welcomes the UN Security Council's efforts to financially weaken the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and cut off the influx of foreign fighters. "Now, the governments of the EU member states – especially the German Federal Government – must ensure that no financial support and no supplies for the Syrian opposition will fall into the hands of radical Islamists such as IS or the Nusra front. Since the Islamist Nusra front also cooperates with other so-called "moderate Islamists" in Syria, it is quite possible that extremist organizations might get their hands on weapons and money from abroad, the human rights organization fears.

"It must be ensured that the radical Islamists don't benefit from German help," stated Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East consultant, in Göttingen on Monday. "There must be no support at all for anyone who aims to pursue ethnic or religious minorities such as Yezidi Kurds, Christians or Shabak in Iraq and Syria or to introduce the Islamic Sharia law."

Further, Sido warned that the radical Islamists can also rely on logistics structures in Turkey. The German Federal Government must therefore approach the Turkish government and emphasize that the extremists will also be a mortal threat for minority groups in Turkey in the long run.

"TheYezidis and also the Christian Assyrians/Aramaeans/Chaldeans in Germany fear for the members of their religious communities in Iraq and Syria," Sido said. "Eyewitnesses informed us that some relief efforts for the Yezidi refugees in the enclosed areas fail only because there is not enough kerosene for the flights. Germany must do much more to alleviate the situation for the Kurds and the other minorities, must be present in Iraqi Kurdistan and provide logistical support for the people."

In the Sinjar Mountains in the outer north-west of Iraq, almost the entire ethnic group of the Yezidis has been on the run for the last 8 days. IS-fighters still have at least 55,000 Yezidis trapped without food and water supplies. According to reports, hundreds of those who could not escape the extremists were killed. Many women and girls were abducted.

Kamal Sido, the STP's Middle East consultant, is available for further questions: +49 551 499 06 18 or nahost@gfbv.de.

Header Photo: AllEyesOnSyria/Youtube