JINHA

AMED – Êzidî refugees in Diyarbakır held a Çarşema Sor celebration, organized by the civil society group Democratic Society Congress (DTK). Feleknaz Uca, the Êzidî candidate for Parliament running for the HDP, said that the only real celebration would take place when Shengal was free.

After the August attack on Shengal, many Êzidîs fled to the city of Diyarbakır in Northern Kurdistan. Yesterday, they celebrated the Êzidî holiday of Çarşema Sor (Red Wednesday), the spring holiday, in a municipal nursery in the Yenişehir district of the city. Children celebrated the holiday by breaking colorful dyed eggs.

"The Êzidî people have never given up their language, their holidays, their customs or their culture," said Feleknaz. She said that the 72 massacres perpetrated over the course of history, of which Daesh's attack is only the most recent, had never succeeded in forcing Êzidîs to give up their culture.

"We also celebrate the holiday for the Shengal fighters and the people there now," said Feleknaz, mentioning the fighters in the Shengal resistance.

The celebration was undoubtedly marked by the massacre.

"We can do whatever we want, but we don't have the strength to stop the pain of the massacre," said Diyarbakır co-mayor Gültan Kışanak, speaking at the celebration, "but right now I see the smiling faces of children, women and Êzidî citizens."

The Europe Êzidi Federation co-chair Leyla Ferman and Congress of Free Women (KJA) activist Şükran Mızrak also celebrated the holiday with the local Êzidîs.

(sg-mc/mg/cm)