MEDYA HAWAR

Shengal (Sinjar)- After ISIS attacked on Shengal on August 3, 2014, the people living in the village of  Sikêniyê were forcibly displaced. The displaced villagers returned to their village after the Yazidi people and  the Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) liberated the village. Established after the liberation of Shengal, the Shengal Autonomous Administration provided services to the village; they turned a school into a clinic to provide health service to the villagers. The clinic was opened in 2019 and Kurdish and Arab people were employed to work in the clinic.

However, the Turkish Air Force bombed the Sikêniyê Clinic on August 17, 2021, killing four clinic staff and four YPŞ fighters and injuring four other clinic staff. One of the people killed in the Turkish airstrike was Muhlise Sîdar (Nom de guerre: Amargi).

Although two years have passed, the wounds of the Yazidi community have not been healed. Meyan Nasir, who was receiving treatment at the clinic when the Turkish airstrike was launched, named her granddaughter after Amargi to keep alive the memory of Muhlise Sîdar (Amargi). Meyan Nasir lost her husband and one of her children in the attacks of ISIS on Shengal in 2014. “If we live in our homeland with our culture and belief today, it is thanks to our martyrs,” she said.

 ‘The enemy does not want us to live in our homeland’

Speaking about the ongoing attacks on Shengal, she said, “Unfortunately, we have an enemy attacking us by using all inhuman practices. This enemy does not want us to live in our homeland. Our children sacrifice their lives so that we can live in our homeland. We are proud of our children. Amagi was one of our children playing an important role in defending our homeland.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Meyan Nasir was infected with the Covid-19. She received treatment at the clinic.

“I was one of the people infected with the Covid-19. Thanks to the efforts of the children, who lost their lives in the airstrike, I recovered. They brought me food and gave me my medicines. They were well disposed to me.”

‘My heart breaks every time I pass by the clinic’

Recalling that the clinic has been attacked four times until now, Meyan Nasır said, “The clinic provided medicines and treatment to the people. It was a big clinic. My heart breaks every time I pass by the clinic. My granddaughter was born about a month ago. I named her after Amargi to always remember her.”