ROJBİN DENİZ

Shengal- Yazidi people suffered a lot when ISIS attacked Shengal on August 3, 2014. ISIS killed them, abducted women and girls, and sold them in the slave markets. Thousands of Yazidis managed to flee from the atrocity of ISIS and settled in refugee camps. After the liberation of Shengal, Yazidis have slowly returned to Shengal to rebuild their lives. Daye (Mother) Gevre Sileman is only one of them. She returned to Shengal after living in the refugee camps of the Federal Kurdistan Region (Iraqi Kurdistan) for seven years. “I am alone in this world. I have nowhere to go except Shengal, and no one except you. I came here to follow your path,” she told the members of the Peoples’ Assembly in Shengal.

“We are the people of this land”

Daye Gevre spent her first day in Shengal in the house her siblings gave her, in Xanesor, to remember her old days. Then, she went to the office of the Peoples’ Assembly and asked help from them, “I returned because of my longing for my land. We are the people of this land and we cannot live in other places.” The members of the assembly and the Yazidi Women's Freedom Movement (TAJÊ) helped her.

Daye Gevre told us her story

“I lived in Xanesor. Before the genocide, we were a small family. Then, I lost my husband. I had a son, his wife, and my grandchildren. We were a small and happy family. We had a modest life. I lost my son in a car crash. My grandchildren lived with me. Before, I was a strong woman. Then, I was left alone, I was alone. I cried every night. While I was suffering from losing my son, ISIS attacked Shengal. I was alone and took shelter in the mountains along with other people. Children, elders, and women were killed. Erdoğan committed this genocide against us. Everyone knows they are ISIS. Fighters came to the mountains to help us. They gave us food and water. They carried the old people. They protected us from the atrocity of ISIS. Without them, all Yazidis would be killed. The Peshmerga of the KDP did nothing for us. They don’t deserve to live here, they should return here anymore. We don’t want them here.”

“There is loneliness in the camps, not happiness”

Daye Gevre told us what she had faced in the refugee camps:

“After descending from the mountains, I went to the Arbat refugee camp in Başur Kurdistan. We got bored a lot in the camp. There was nothing to do, we walked around the tents. We spent summers and winters in tents. The fire broke out in tents every day. I returned to Xanesor yesterday. I slept in my garden without feeling any anxiety or fear, I slept very well.”

When Daye Gevre lived in the refugee camp, the members of the Freedom and Democracy Party (PADÊ) visited and supported them.

“I couldn’t live in the camp anymore so I returned to Shengal. I missed my city and neighbors. I faced many difficulties on the way to Shengal. I was asked for money at each checkpoint. I was allowed to enter Shengal after I gave money to them. They don’t want us to return to Shengal. Finally, I arrived in the Xanesor town of Shengal. The town has changed a lot, it is bigger now. I saw the situation of Mosul, the destroyed houses. But Shengal has been rebuilt and developed in seven years. There are peoples’ assemblies here. The women couldn’t go out before, but now they are freer. Women learned a lot from what we went through. We will protect Shengal. Yazidi women and men take up arms and they protect Shengal. Every Yazidi should learn how to use arms to protect Shengal. Yazidis will be born, grow up and die in Shengal.”

She is not alone now

Daye Gevre told us she doesn’t feel alone anymore. “We have our peoples’ assembly. The people of the assembly helped me a lot. They also help everybody. I thank them for their support.” The members of the Peoples’ Assembly and TAJÊ rebuilt the house of Daye Gevre and met her needs. Daye Gevre lives in her town and she isn’t alone now.