CÎLAN ROJ

Shengal- On June 10, 2014, ISIS attacked Mosul, which was controlled by the Iraqi government and occupied it in one day without facing any response. The Iraqi government handed over Mosul to ISIS. After occupying Mosul, ISIS headed to Shengal on August 3,2014 due to the betrayal of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Iraq. Before ISIS attacked Shengal, 12,000 KDP and Iraqi soldiers had left Shengal, leaving the Yazidis alone. Before withdrawing from Shengal, the members of the KDP collected the weapons of the people and told them that they would protect them. Most of the Yazidis believed in them and gave their weapons to them. When ISIS attacked Shengal, Yazidis fled to the mountains not to be taken captive by ISIS.

She was captured along with eight members of her family

Xonav Îno Xûndo was one of those who were taken captive by ISIS, along with eight members of her family; her husband, three sons, grandmothers, cousin and nephew. A NuJINHA team went to her home to hear her story.

‘We believed in them but…’

While talking about the arrival of ISIS and how she was taken captive, we saw how she felt sad and how she was in pain from her face. “When ISIS arrived, we went towards the bend, but my husband stayed with his mother, saying, ‘I will not give my mother to them’. We started walking with children and passed three bends; however, ISIS members blocked our way with their vehicles. They first forcibly seized the mobile phones of the children. They told us, ‘Go back home, who told you to leave your home?’ They forced us to get in the vehicles and took us back to Shengal. We believed in them but they took us captive and we had nowhere to go.”

As Mother Xonav told us, many people believed in them and then were taken captive by ISIS. After holding them in Shengal for three days, ISIS members took them to Tal Afar, a city in the Nineveh Governorate of northwestern Iraq. “We stayed in Tal Afar for five or six days without water, food and bread. Then, they took us to Rojava and we stayed there for three months. After three months, they told us that they would take us to Mosul. They took us to Mosul and we stayed there for about a month. Then, they took us back to Tal Afar.”

Mother Xonav and her husband were held captive by ISIS for about eight months. After eight months, they saw their children taken captive by ISIS. “After eight months, we were taken to a camp, where our children were held, on April 5, 2015. After a while, my husband and I were freed with a ransom payment. We demanded them to free our children too but they refused. We told our children that we would not leave them but they told us to leave.”

 

She has not received any information about her three sons

Mother Xonav and her husband went to Kirkuk after being freed. They stayed in Southern Kurdistan for a year and then returned to Shengal.

Unfortunately, Mother Xonav has not received any information about her three sons since she left the camp.

They returned to Shengal with a broken heart

We asked Mother Xonav to tell us what she witnessed while being held captive by ISIS. She first did not want to talk about what she had witnessed but then she began to talk in tears. “Young women were being taken away in front of us. The moment that I will never forget was when two members of ISIS grabbed a young woman's hands and feet and took her away while the young woman cried for help. ISIS members first did not touch married women and children but then they also took them away. They killed men. I saw how they killed a young man in Shengal and how his blood flowed into the street.”

Mother Xonav lost everything during the genocide. “We lost everything and returned to Shengal with a broken heart.”

‘We felt very happy when we heard the name of YBŞ’

After Shengal was liberated by the HPG-YJA STAR, YPG-YPJ forces, the Yazidis formed their defense forces; the Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ) and the Êzîdxan Women's Units (YŞJ).

We asked Mother Xonav what she felt when she heard the name of YBŞ. “We felt very happy when we heard the name of YBŞ, our defense forces. If we had had our own defense forces, we would not have been taken captive by ISIS. If we do not protect us, no one can protect us,” she answered.

“The genocide on August 3 was neither the end nor the beginning. During the genocide, no one heard our cries because the whole world played ostrich. We will remember the genocide until we die.”

The genocide committed against the Yazidi community by ISIS is called as 74th edict by the Yazidi people. “The Yazidi community has been subjected to 74 edicts throughout history but they are undocumented. Our grandparents never talked about the previous edicts.”

At the end of her speech, Mother Xonav demanded all the Yazidi women still held captive by ISIS be rescued.