Statü Research
Women organize to heal trauma in Newroz Camp
JINHA
DÊRIK - When Daesh attacked the Êzidî city of Shengal one year ago, thousands of Êzidîs fled the massacre through a security corridor to the Rojava autonomous region in Syria. There, the Êzidîs settled in the Newroz camp, where they have spent the last year working to organize and heal their trauma.
One year ago, Daesh attacked the city of Shengal, Iraq. Shengal was home to a large proportion of the world's populations of Êzidîs. Thousands of Êzidîs were massacred, while more than 7,000 women and children were taken into captivity to be sold as "slaves." The massacre aimed explicitly to wipe out the Êzidî belief.
In the wake of the massacre, as the Federal Kurdistan Region fighters responsible for protecting Shengal abandoned the city, Kurdish guerrillas moved in to protect the fleeing population. The fighters opened a secure corridor to evacuate the Êzidîs, preventing further massacre.
With the Êzidîs safely evacuated across the border to Rojava (the autonomous region in Syria), a refugee camp was set up for them in the city of Dêrik, in Rojava's Cizîrê canton. JINHA spoke with the women camp residents and staff about their last year.
"Our children, our young people survived a massacre in Shengal," said camp resident Bahar Yusuf. "Our daughters and our mothers threw themselves off cliffs and suffocated themselves to avoid falling into the [Daesh] gangs' hands. Their children were killed and taken captive in front of their eyes. They even took away 70-year-old women. What did the women of the Êzidî people do that they massacred us like this?"
Bahar said that the Federal Kurdistan Region peshmerge fighters who were supposed to protect the abandoned them. It fell to guerrilla fighters to defend them and care for them.
"Mt. Shengal is the heart of Kurdistan, but they didn't defend it; they ran away," said Bahar. "The whole world needs to know that the peshmerge ran away and this is why our sons were beheaded and our daughters captured."
Çiçek Harune, a member of the Êzidî political group TEV-DA, noted that the world watched the massacre in Shengal silently.
"Everyone saw this massacre; the whole world could follow it," said Çiçek. "In the face of all this, Êzidîs absolutely have to organize." She noted that a year later, many Êzidîs have now headed back to Shengal to join the armed groups trained by guerrillas to defend their homeland. The massacre took place in part because the Êzidî people were not organized or prepared to defend themselves, said Çiçek. Now, this organizing includes organizing against patriarchy within Êzidî society.
"We know that women live under male rule everywhere; Êzidî women are no exception to this reality," Çiçek said. She noted that Êzidî women are forced to work in the home in service to men. "There's been a lot of effort to change this and there have been some clear developments."
There are efforts in the camp to help Êzidîs overcome the psychological effects of the massacre. The camp also provides a number of educational programs in politics, women's history, communal organizing, literacy and holding assemblies. As organizing continues, the camp residents have their eye on returning to their city.
"Our goal is to return to Shengal," said Çiçek.
(fk/cm)