MEDYA HAWAR

Shengal (Sinjar)- When ISIS started attacking Shengal on August 3, 2014, the guerrillas of the People's Defense Forces and the Free Women's Units (YJA STAR) and the forces of Rojava Kurdistan heard the cries of the Yazidis and opened a humanitarian corridor to rescue them from ISIS.

Xezal Xêro, member of the Diplomacy Department at the Autonomous Administration of Shengal, is one of the witnesses of the Yazidi genocide. “The Yazidi community owes everything to the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan,” she said, talking about what she has witnessed since the start of the genocide.

At the beginning of her speech, she commemorated those who were killed during the genocide. “We heard that ISIS was killing and abducting people in Mosul. We were not afraid of ISIS because we did not think that it would attack us since we lived without having any problems with anybody. We did not expect something like that would happen. We thought that it was a military coup.”

‘We saw the reality of ISIS’

When ISIS started attacking Shengal, the Yazidi people and Xezal fled to the mountains. “We heard that ISIS was moving closer to the village of Gir Zerk. They were moving at night to attack the villages. At around 1 a.m., clashes broke out in the village of Gir Zerk. Some villagers fled to the mountains while some stayed to fight ISIS. Some stayed in the village until the morning. We also stayed in the village until the morning. Then, we were told that ISIS had killed men and abducted women and girls and raped them. When we heard that, we left the village. At that time, my mother and I were at home. My sister's house was next to ours, so we left the village by using their car. We first went to a mountain village called Madika. We brought food with us because we still thought that we would return to our village soon. We understood that we would not return to our village soon when we saw the people fleeing from Qibletê in the village. They told us that ISIS abducted girls and women and beheaded men. That time, we saw the reality of ISIS.”

‘'Those were hard times’

After what they heard, they began to fear ISIS. “Then, we heard that some young people had been caught in Xanesor and Sinune by ISIS. They were caught and killed while trying to find food for their families. All people in the village began to flee to the mountains again. Those were hard days for us. As the anniversary of the genocide approaches, we remember as if it was yesterday. We had some neighbors having children. When they wanted to leave, ISIS caught them. Unfortunately, we have not heard from six boys since then.”

‘We were told that friends would come’

“The arrival of the HPG and YJA Star guerrillas paved the way for our freedom,” Xezal Xêro said, adding, “We were told that friends would come when we were in the mountains. We had heard about the freedom fighters but we had not met them. Some met them while working in Tevda. They came and told us not to fear.”

‘We will save you’

Talking about what she felt when she saw the guerrillas, Xezal Xêro said, “Before the friends came and opened a humanitarian corridor for us, many people said that the Peshmerga had opened the corridor, but they were all lies. The Peshmerga fled and left us alone. When the friends arrived, they told us not to fear and they would save us. They opened the corridor for us. The friends also gave food to us.”

Some Yazidi people taking shelter in the mountains went to the Newroz camp in Rojava after the humanitarian corridor was opened for them. “We went to Rojava. There were ongoing clashes there but the friends helped us to go to the city of Derik (Al-Malikiyah). The friends had built the camp for us but they did not know we were so many people. They welcomed us and gave us food. Then, we settled in the camp and rested for several days. Then, we started forming our defense forces, the YBŞ, to protect ourselves. Young people learned how to fight there and then went to Shengal to liberate it from ISIS. At the camp, we began to get to know the friends and learn the ideology of leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan). The friends were like us but had a strong will; they fought to protect themselves. I told my family that I would be a member of the assembly and communes of the Yazidis. We stayed in the camp for about five years.”

‘We will protect Shengal’

At the end of her speech, Xezal Xero thanked the people of Rojava for opening their doors and hearts to us while we were having difficult times. After Shengal was liberated, we returned to Shengal. The assembly held a meeting and I was elected as the co-chair of the assembly. Since then, we have worked hard to serve and protect our people. We will protect Shengal and not allow the enemy to enter our homeland again.”