Kocho ( ku, کۆچۆ, translit=Koço; ar, كوجو) is a village in

Sinjar District The Sinjar District or the Shingal District (, ku, قەزای شنگال ,Qeza Şingal) is a district of the Nineveh Governorate. The district seat is the town of Sinjar. The district has two subdistricts, al-Shemal and al-Qayrawan. The district ...

, south of the

Sinjar Mountains The Sinjar Mountains ( ku, چیایێ شنگالێ, translit=Çiyayê Şingalê, ar, جبل سنجار, translit=Jabal Sinjār, syr, ܛܘܪܐ ܕܫܝܓܪ, Ṭura d'Shingar,) are a mountain range that runs east to west, rising above the surroundi ...

in the

Nineveh Governorate Nineveh Governorate ( ar, محافظة نينوى, syr, ܗܘܦܪܟܝܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ, Hoparkiya d’Ninwe, ckb, پارێزگای نەینەوا, Parêzgeha Neynewa), also known as Ninawa Governorate, is a governorate in northern Iraq. It has an ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. It is considered one of the

disputed territories of Northern Iraq The disputed territories of Northern Iraq ( ar, المناطق المتنازع عليها في العراق, ku, ناوچە جێناکۆکەکانی عێراق) are regions defined by article 140 of the Constitution of Iraq as being Arabised ...

and is populated by

Yazidis Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking Endogamy, endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran ...

. The village came to international attention in 2014 due to the

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

of Yazidis committed by the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

Genocide in Kocho

Background

Iraqi forces withdrew from Sinjar region including the village of Kocho after the

Fall of Mosul The Fall of Mosul occurred between 410 June 2014, when Islamic State insurgents, initially led by Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi, captured Mosul from the Iraqi Army, led by Lieutenant General Mahdi Al-Gharrawi. On 4 June, the insurgents began their ...

in early June 2014, prompting the lightly-equipped and outgunned

Peshmerga The Peshmerga ( ku, پێشمەرگه, Pêşmerge, lit=those who face death) is the Kurdish military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiaries, ...

to enter

Sinjar Sinjar ( ar, سنجار, Sinjār; ku, شنگال, translit=Şingal, syr, ܫܝܓܪ, Shingar) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its p ...

city to prevent ISIS from capturing the city. Peshmerga began constructing a barrier south of the city to prevent ISIS incursions. 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

afterwards to seek refuge and where later rescued by

People's Protection Units The People's Defense Units (YPG), (YPG) ; ar, وحدات حماية الشعب, Waḥdāt Ḥimāyat aš-Šaʽb) also called People's Protection Units, is a mainly-Kurdish militia in Syria and the primary component of the Syrian Democra ...

while some were reported to be caught by ISIS.

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 The Protection Force of Êzîdxan (HPÊ) (, ar, قوة حماية ايزيدخان), is a Kurdish Yazidi military force founded by Haydar Shesho in the summer of 2014 in respond to the Sinjar massacre. It was bigger than the other main Yazidi mili ...

on 25 May 2017. 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. Previously, 90 Yazidis (including 12-year-old boys) were shot dead by the Islamic State in the neighboring village of

Qiniyeh Qiniyeh ( ku, Qînîçê) is a village in the Sinjar District, southern of the Sinjar Mountains in the Nineveh Governorate in Iraq. It is populated by Yazidis and gained international fame in 2014 through the genocide of the Islamic State on the ...

on 3 August 2014.

Aftermath

In March 2019, mass grave exhumations began in Kocho.

Notable Persons

Nadia Murad Nadia Murad Basee Taha (; ar, نادية مراد باسي طه; born 10 March 1993) is an Iraqi Yazidis, Yazidi Human rights activists, human rights activist who lives in Germany. In 2014, she was kidnapped from her hometown Kocho, Iraq, Koch ...

Lamiya Haji Bashar Lamiya Haji Bashar (Arabic: لمياء حجي بشار) is a Yazidi human rights activist. She was awarded the Sakharov Prize jointly with Nadia Murad in 2016. Biography Haji Bashar is from Kojo, near Sinjar, Iraq. In August 2014, along with Na ...

Bibliography

* Kocho: ISIS Massacre in a Yezidi Village (Paul Kingery, 05.10.2018)

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Nineveh Governorate Yazidi populated places in Iraq