RONÎDA HACÎ

Hasakah- The Yazidi people, who have suffered from 74 edicts- in their words: 74 edicts-have been killed, abducted, sold in slave markets, and displaced.

The Yazidi community in Afrin and Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ayn) were displaced to Shahba and Til Rıfat (Tell Rifaat), safe areas in the autonomous region in northeastern Syria when the Turkish state launched its occupying attacks on their cities. On November 27, 2024, the Turkish state and Turkish-backed factions intensified their attacks on Shahba and Til Rıfat, forcing the displaced people, including the Yazidi people, taking shelters in Shahba and Til Rıfat to flee to other safe places in northeastern Syria.

‘The aim was to destroy the Yazidi people’

In an interview with NuJINHA, Hediya Şemo, Spokesperson of the Yazidi Women’s Union in Rojava, spoke about the genocide committed against the Yazidi people by ISIS in 2014. “The aim of the genocide in 2014 was to destroy the memory, religious belief and values of the Yazidi people. The Yazidi people have suffered from 74 edicts until now. The last one was in 2014. The Yazidi community has resisted many edicts with the support of the people of Rojava. In 2014, ISIS, supported by the Turkish state, abducted about 5,000 Yazidi women, attacked villages and destroyed our holy sites.”

‘There were about 22 Yazidi villages in Afrin’

Speaking about the attacks of the Turkish state and Turkish-backed factions on Afrin in 2018, she said, “Afrin was the home of many ethnic and religious minorities; there were about 22 Yazidi villages in Afrin. After a 58-day resistance, the Yazidi people had to leave their home to Shahba due to the Turkish attacks. In November 2024, the Turkish state and Turkish-backed factions launched an offensive on Shahba, displacing thousands, including Yazidi people once again.”

‘The autonomous region in northeastern Syria is safer’

In the new Syria, people from different nationalities, religions and ethnic groups have been subjected to rights violations, Hediya Şemo emphasized, adding:

“The displaced people of Afrin left Shahba not to face massacres. They have been forcibly displaced for the second time. They have been settled in safer cities such as Tabqa, Hasakah and Qamishlo. We should say that the safest place for ethnic and religious minorities is the autonomous region in northeastern Syria. Following the fall of the Assad government, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Damascus and formed a new government. The members of HTS have committed crimes against humanities and rights violations against the Alewites and Christians. They have attacked the holy sites of the Alewites and Christians. How can we practice our religion and have a democratic system in this new Syria? What has been happening poses a threat to all people living in Syria.”

‘We will build a free Syria together’

Women’s participation in drafting a new constitution in Syria is essential, Hediya Şemo stressed. “According to the reports, the new government rejects the roles of women and will exclude women from all facets of life, including politics, military and social life. The revolution in Rojava was led by women and has become a role model for the whole world. The fighters of the YPJ have made their mark in history by resisting. As Yazidi, Armenian, Syriac, Chaldean, Arab, Kurdish and Circassian women, we should unite and be in solidarity with each other and build a free Syria together.”