Kocho, Iraq

Kocho (or Kojo, Kurdish: کۆچۆ ,Koço‎,[1][2] Arabic: كوجو‎[3]) is a village in Sinjar District, south of the Sinjar Mountains in the Nineveh Governorate of Iraq. It is considered one of the disputed territories of Northern Iraq and is populated by Yazidis.[4] The village came to international attention in 2014 due to the genocide of Yazidis committed by the Islamic State.[5]

Kocho
Village
Kocho
Kocho within Iraq
Coordinates: 36°10′N 41°44′E
Country Iraq
GovernorateNinawa
DistrictSinjar District
Time zoneUTC+3 (GMT+3)

Genocide in Kocho

Background

Iraqi forces withdrew from Sinjar region including the village of Kocho after the Fall of Mosul in early June 2014, prompting the lightly-equipped and outgunned[6] Peshmerga to enter Sinjar city to prevent ISIS from capturing the city. Peshmerga began constructing a barrier south of the city to prevent ISIS incursions.[7] The region experienced small-scale attacks from ISIS between June and August that year and the small contingent of Peshmerga soldiers in Kocho would ultimately leave to reinforce other Peshmerga forces northward due to the ISIS advance. Hundreds of locals left towards the Sinjar Mountains afterwards to seek refuge and where later rescued by People's Protection Units while some were reported to be caught by ISIS.[8]

Genocide

On 3 August 2014, the Islamic State took control over the whole village and the town was captured by Iraqi forces and Êzîdxan Protection Force on 25 May 2017.[9][10]

The Islamic State imprisoned Yazidis for 12 days and then gave the Yazidis an ultimatum of three days to convert to Islam or face death. Since the Yazidis refused to convert to Islam, the massacre started on the 15 August 2014. The Islamic State separated the men from the women and children and took them all to the secondary school of the village, where the Yazidis had to hand over their mobile phones and jewelry. An estimated 1826 Yazidis lived in the village of Kocho. The Islamic State beheaded about 600 Yazidi men, and some were burned alive or shot. The bodies of the people, including some who were alive, were all thrown into mass graves. Subsequently, the Islamic State abducted more than 1,000 Yazidi children and women from the village. The under-14s were taken to Islamic State military camps where they were trained to become IS terrorists, and the Yazidi women and girls were held as slaves and sexually abused.[11][12][13][14][15] Previously, 90 Yazidis (including 12-year-old boys) were shot dead by the Islamic State in the neighboring village of Qiniyeh on 3 August 2014.[15]

Aftermath

In March 2019, mass grave exhumations began in Kocho.[16][17]

Notable Persons

Bibliography
  • Kocho: ISIS Massacre in a Yezidi Village (Paul Kingery, 05.10.2018) ISBN 978-1726768993

References
  1. "Li Koço goristan". Yeni Özgür Politika (in Kurdish). 5 August 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  2. "گوندی کۆچۆ شوێنە گەورەکەی کۆمەڵکوژیی ئێزدییان بوو" (in Kurdish). 17 August 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  3. "الياس يروي قصة نجاته من مجزرة كوجو بعد اصابته برصاصتين وفقدان جميع افراد اسرته". Kirkuk Now (in Arabic). 15 August 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  4. Kizilhan, Jan Ilhan (10 October 2016). Die Psychologie des IS: Die Logik der Massenmörder (in German). Europa Verlag GmbH & Company KG. ISBN 9783958901155.
  5. "The Yezidi Genocide, Two Years Later". US News.
  6. Coles, Isabel (13 August 2014). "Outgunned and untested for years, Kurdish peshmerga struggle". Reuters. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  7. Slater, Andrew (13 June 2014). "Kurdish Forces are Pushing Back Against ISIS, Gaining Ground Around Mosul". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  8. Cetorelli, Valeria (2019). "A demographic documentation of ISIS's attack on the Yazidi village of Kocho" (PDF). LSE Middle East Centre Report. p. 7. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  9. "After years of murder and enslavement by ISIL, Iraq's Yazidis are determined to liberate their own homeland". The National. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  10. "Former Yazidi sex slave makes tearful return to her Iraqi village". Reuters. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  11. "Erschütternde Beweise für ethnische Säuberungen im Nordirak durch IS | Amnesty International". www.amnesty.de (in German). Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  12. "Testimonies from Kocho: The village ISIS tried to wipe off the map". www.amnesty.org. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  13. "Yezidis return to Kocho school where ISIS killed men, enslaved women". www.rudaw.net. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  14. "ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis" (PDF). OHCHR (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights). 15 June 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  15. "ETHNIC CLEANSING ON A HISTORIC SCALE: ISLAMIC STATE'S SYSTEMATIC TARGETING OF MINORITIES IN NORTHERN IRAQ" (PDF). Amnesty International. September 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  16. Salim, Salar (16 March 2019). "Iraq begins exhuming mass grave in Sinjar region". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  17. "Iraq opens first IS mass grave in Yazidi region". France 24. AFP. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
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