Öykü Dilara Keskin/JINHA

ISTANBUL – Fatma Çelik, who prepared an exhibition named, “Strangers in their own Land: Êzidîs of Shengal”, said, “There wasn’t an archive of a people, who faced a massacre. I also wanted to be involved in the formation of an archive.”

A photograph exhibition named “Strangers in their own Land: Êzidîs of Shengal” within the scope of the project, “73rd Edict of Êzidîs: Genocide in Shengal” that carried out by Zan Social, Political, Economic Research Foundation has been opened. The project has been planned to document what happened, escape from genocide and life in the camps as a result of attacks launched by ISIS on August 3, 2014 in Shengal. Zan Foundation interviewed with the people, who were personally subjected to disaster on the method of oral history and the foundation’s purpose is to make Êzidî people’s tragedy visible in order to raise sensibility of national and international public opinion with activities. The photograph exhibition will continue at Algeria Meeting Room until September 30.

Psychological counselor and photographer Fatma Çelik, who took the photographs for the exhibition, said, “I have worked in Êzidî camps for two years. I wanted to take the photographs and document these camps but it had to have a meaning. Thus, I have begun to be involved in the project of Zan Foundation.” Fatma said Zan Foundation wants to document the genocide in Shengal and continued to talk as follows; “There wasn’t an archive of a people, who faced a massacre. I also wanted to be involved in the formation of an archive.”

Fatma said she had taken photographs for two months, “They felt uneasy when I took their photographs. Refugee issue is a world’s issue. Everybody has ignored this issue. I took portraits of these ignored people. I wanted to introduce them to other people.” Fatma stated she worked in the camps in Diyarbakır and Batman. She said, “I met a woman named Nejat, who drew pictures. She was 19 years old. She gave me one of her pictures as present. I was impressed with her picture so we included her in the exhibition, too.”

Fatma stated that the conversations with Êzidî people would be published in a book.

(dyc/mg/gd)