ROJBİN DENİZ

Shengal – The genocide against Êzidîs in Shengal on August 3, 2014, has passed into history as the wound and shame of humanity. It was the 74^th decree against Êzidîs. People of Shengal never forget what happened during the genocide against them. As NuJinha team, we want to tell you the stories of Êzidî women with their own words. Today, we tell you the story of Dayê Esmer, who lives in Siba Şex Xıdır.

The town witnessed the genocide

Siba Şex Xıdır is an Êzidî town that witnessed what happened to the Êzidîs in 2014. Siba means the place where the water is collected. The local people call the water reservoirs “Siba”. Sheikh Xıdır (Şex Xıdır) came to the place where Siba Şex Xıdır town is located now, and dug water well and built a Siba, water reservoir there. Then, people began to come there and live around the Siba. In process of time, a village was built there and it was named after Şex Xıdır. Siba Şex Xıdır is located in the west of Shengal and Til Ezer. Arab Beac village is located in the south of Siba.

There are unopened 5 mass graves

Siba Şex Xıdır is one of the first Êzidî towns attacked by Daesh in 2014. Daesh first attacked Siba Sex Xıdır, and then Gir Zerek and Til Ezer. Daesh abducted nearly 500 women, young people, and children in the town. There are still unopened five mass graves in the town. Before the attacks, seven thousand families lived in Siba but after Daesh attacked the town, most of the people of Siba settled in refugee camps located in Southern Kurdistan and some of them went to Europe. The building of the town continues even if seven years have passed since the genocide. There is no electricity in the town; all houses are still in ruins. The number of families returning to the town has been slowly increasing. The Iraqi government hasn’t done anything for Siba until now.

We visited every house in Siba but there is no one in the houses. The houses looked as if the people just left their houses not seven years ago. Each house has a yard full of trees; we saw baby cradles in yards. We finally found a house, where people live in. A woman was sitting in front of the house. She has blue eyes and a smiling face. “Where are you going?” she asked us. “We try to find someone,” we told her. Other members of the family came together and we began to talk about the past…

“What happened here on August 3? Were you here, do you remember?” we asked Dayê Esmer. Dayê Esmer smiled and told us, “No, I don’t remember, what happened here?” then she laughed. She is a funny mother. She is the most beautiful and cheerful person on the street. Her grandchild began to talk with us, “My grandmother is our sunshine, and she makes us laugh.” We asked Dayê Esmer to tell us what she had faced during the 74^th decree against them.

“I told you before, I don’t remember but it was just a joke. I can't forget what we faced until I die. Everything was so painful...” said Dayê Esmer, who began to cry while talking about what had happened to them. “I cannot forget! How can I forget what happened especially in Siba?”

“My heart is in two parts”

“I am Esmer Hemo. My heart is in two parts now. One part is still crazy and cheerful Esmer, another part is Esmer, whose heart beats with pain.”

“My son's martyrdom affected me a lot”

“I was born and grew up in Siba. I got married in Siba when I was 20 years old. One of my sons was martyred two months before the decree while he was doing his military service. The children of my two sons live with me. Three families live in this house now. We were a poor family. We used to make a living by working in fields as workers. My son's martyrdom affected me a lot.”

“Everyone took care of themselves”

Dayê Esmer talked about the day when Daesh attacked their town, “They (Daesh members) came at 2 am. Or I realized them at that hour. I heard gunshots. We stayed at home until eight o’clock. I told my husband we should leave. ‘I cannot leave sheep of my son,’ he answered. Then, I went up on the roof, everyone was fleeing. When I saw the people, I insisted on leaving our house. We didn’t have a car. My daughter-in-law was also with us and she was sick. The children of my martyred son and my other son were also in the house. Then, we left the house and began to run to the main road. No one waited for us. Everyone took care of themselves. I saw my brother-in-law but they didn’t have any space for us. We delivered the children to them. I walked with my husband and daughter. It was very hot, we hardly walked. When we saw a car outside of Siba, it stopped and we took that car until Sikini.”

“People were dying of thirst”

“We went to the mountains at night. I had very little water and bread. We had difficult times when going to the mountains. It was cold at night and hot in the day. All of us were hungry but the real problem was water. People were dying of thirst. I saw how people didn’t help each other, how mothers had to leave their children. My brother couldn’t flee and Daesh abducted him. We stayed on the mountain for eight days. It was like we spent our life there. Then, we walked to the border of Rojava. We were welcomed and a camp was built for us. They saved us from death, from losing our soul. We will never forget them until we die.”

“We are happier in our own town”

Dayê Esmer told us some families have already returned to Siba but not all families. “Only several families have returned. We want to keep our old customs alive. We are few in number but we are happier in our own town. We returned to Siba, we are not afraid of anything because there are forces protecting us.”