EVÎN ZENDA

Shengal (Sinjar)- Til Ezer (al-Qahtaniyah) and Siba Sheikh Khidir (al-Jazirah) are two of the villages built by Saddam Hussein to bring Yazidis down from the Shengal Mountains. The villages were built in deserts leaving the villagers unprotected. On August 14, 2007, four coordinated suicide car bomb attacks detonated in the Yazidi villages of Til Ezer (al-Qahtaniyah) and Siba Sheikh Khidir (al-Jazirah). About 340 people were killed and at least 700 others were wounded in the attacks. The attacks on August 14, 2007 are known as the 73rd genocide by the Yazidi community.

The attacks were carried out by groups affiliated with the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization and Sultan Murad Brigade. At that time, the villages were protected by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Peshmerga and Iraqi forces. Some of the wounded, who were transferred to hospital by Iraqi forces and US soldiers are still missing. NuJINHA spoke to Gozê Reşo from Til Ezer, Nadîra Reşo and Gulê Mêşo from Siba Sheikh Khidir about the attacks occurred on August 14, 2007. 

‘We will never forget this pain’

Nadîra Reşo told us what had happened on August 14, 2007. “It was at around 7 pm. My husband went shopping while I was doing the housework. Suddenly, we heard an explosion. We were all shocked, my son told us, ‘Go home’. We stayed at home waiting to understand what was happening. Then, I told my son to go out. We had relatives at the area where the explosion occurred. I saw someone lying in a pool of blood. I could not go near this person. There were many people looking for their children, relatives. Some people lost 20 members of their family. We did not cook for our children for seven days. The people from the surrounding villages brought food to our children and took care of our children. We will never forget this pain as long as we live. As Yazidis, we should unite to protect us from a possible genocide.”

She still hear the screams

Gozê Reşo, Co-chair of the Peoples’ Assembly in Siba Sheikh Khidir, told us that she still heard the screams. “No one heard us. There were dead bodies everywhere so we could not even move. The parts of detonated vehicles were in our gardens and our houses. We do not know exactly how many people were killed in the attacks.”

‘We learned how to defend ourselves’

Gulê Mêşo, Co-chair of the Peoples’ Assembly in Til Ezer, said that the KDP Peshmerga and Iraqi forces had protected their village when the attacks occurred. “However, four suicide car bomb attacks were detonated in Til Ezer and Siba Sheikh Khidir. After the attacks, people understood that they were unprotected so they decided to buy weapons to protect themselves. We cannot describe how those days were terrible with words. But after the genocide committed against us by ISIS in 2014, we learned how to defend us thanks to the guerrillas. Thanks to the thoughts of leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan), we have learned that if we do not protect us, if we do not unite, we cannot protect ourselves from a possible genocide. Now, we defend and protect ourselves and we will not allow another genocide to be committed against us again.”