NEWS CENTER – Xezal Huseyn, who has not left the house where she took shelter during the ISIS attack on Shengal for 9 years, emphasized that Ezidis need to unite in order not to face similar massacres.

 

In the ISIS attack on Shengal on August 3, 2014, thousands of Ezidis were killed, thousands of women and children were kidnapped. Tens of thousands of Ezidis, who managed to escape from ISIS, took shelter in Shengal Mountain. The ISIS attack on the survivors of the massacre known as the "74th Massacre" was repelled by a group of HPG members. Ezidis who took shelter on Mount Shengal were moved to safe areas through the corridor opened by HPG members. By the end of 2015, a great struggle was waged for the liberation of Shengal, the homeland of the Ezidis. As a result of the struggle led by HPG members, Shengal was liberated in November of the same year. After the liberation of the city, thousands of Ezidis returned to their homes. Ezidis reorganized themselves through assemblies and communes. However, the attacks against Shengal did not end.

 

Xezal Huseyn (90), who took refuge in the Shengal Mountain with 17 other people during the massacre and started to live in the house at the foot of the mountain, and Xwedêda Hesen Şêx Xidir (80), who survived the edict, talked about what happened at that time.

 

 HUSEYN LIVES IN HOME FOR YEARS

 

Xezal Huseyn, who lives in Kolka village, said that he will never forget the 74th Massacre Huseyn said: “When ISIS attacked here, there was a great massacre. There were funerals in every valley in Shengal. The corpses were unclaimed. You were either going to die or you were going to run away. The peshmerga did not protect us either. The peshmerga had taken off their military clothes and fled. We marched for days to save ourselves from ISIS. Finally we reached this house. My bride's family was also with us. 17 of us, including his family, were hiding in this house. There were too many of us and our space was very tight. We were sleeping together. The house was also an earthen house, so we had a lot of difficulty. There were this many people and we only had two pieces of dry and hard bread. We would eat a piece every day and divide the piece into 17. We ate this bread for days in order not to die of hunger. When we fled ISIS, we only had our clothes on. We didn't take anything with us. Later, ISIS attacked Sinune. Everyone was trying to save their own life. That's why the extinction began."

 

Huseyn said: "We would have starved to death if ISIS had not killed us. There was corn just above the house we left. I asked my son to bring those corns. My son and a few others went and brought those corn and we fed on them for days. Many people could not stand what had happened and were trying to cross into Rojava on foot, even if it was death. I was hungry and thirsty for days with my children and grandchildren. Then we decided to move on to Rojava. This journey took days, but we finally reached Dêrîk. After things calmed down, we went back to that house again. Thousands of Ezidis were killed and their bodies were thrown into mass graves. What we saw and witnessed was brutal. How could I forget?"

 

'WE DID NOT HAVE TO ESCAPE'

 

Xwedêda Hesen Şêx Xidir from the village of Sibaşêx Xidir is one of those who personally lived through the massacre. Stating that the biggest massacre in Êzidî history was the 74th, Xidir said: “We didn't have weapons when ISIS attacked Shengal. We thought about taking out the women and children and fighting ISIS, but we said it would be impossible because there were no weapons. No one thought there would be such a massacre. Many of our relatives were killed on the slopes of Mount Shengal, we could not even find their bodies. While we were thinking about what was going on in the village, ISIS also surrounded the Sêquba side of which we are. All four sides of us were besieged, the roads were completely closed. We didn't have to run away. There were more than 200 of us and we were held captive there. We used to say, 'ISIS will not leave a single one of us'. We left our pet, our house, everything, and ran away with only our clothes. My gun was also left in the village. Despite this blockade, I was saying 'we must find a way and escape'. We 10-15 people found a way and hit the road. While walking, we came across a vehicle. We didn't trust anyone. We stopped that vehicle. The vehicle may have been a member of ISIS, but we tried to  stop at our own risk. I told the people next to me that we were going to get in the car. ‘Whoever wants to come with me, we will either die or be saved. I said, 'This will be one of the two. We got in the car and drove away. The vehicle dropped us off near the Rovaja border."

 

'THIS PEOPLE WOULD NOT BE KILLED IF WE WERE UNITED'

 

Noting that the Yazidis' lack of alliance was effective in causing such a great massacre, Xidir said: "A tree breaks from the waist. If the tree is strong, it will not break. If we had united and resisted together instead of fleeing, maybe so many people would not have been killed. If we had unity, the power of ISIS would not be enough for us. All I want is for us to be an alliance. We now have to let anyone kill us, let the enemy easily invade our lands and kill us. We have lived a lot and witnessed many things. But the only thing that troubled us was this lack of unity. It was this disunity that killed us, divided us into pieces. That's why, if we come together, we can easily repel our enemy and protect our lands."

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut