Fikret IGREK
Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon to you. I’d like to talk to you about the Yezidi
associations in Germany and tell you about our background and put a few points to you.
We were particularly concerned by the attack in the Sinjar Mountains on 3 August 2014 in
the North of Iraq. Yezidi people have been living in that region since the period starting
around 2000 B.C. We also have settlements in Mesopotamia and in many parts of Kurdistan,
as well as in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.
The Yezidi people have, because of their race, and because of their religion, time and again
been persecuted, murdered and massacred. Throughout our known history, we have suffered
at least 30 massacres. We have been forced to adopt Islam and we have been driven out of
our homelands countless times.
So, in recent times, we have been suffering from the actions of fanatic Muslims, particularly
because they do not see us as living under Sharia law, and they regard us as infidels.
Therefore, as I say, we have been driven out of our lands, murdered and massacred.
Also, we have suffered persecution because of our Kurdish origins. Wherever we are settled,
we are a religious minority. There are only 1.1 million of us around the world.
The Yezidi people then have lived in isolated communities throughout the Middle East for
centuries and it is very frequently impossible to openly practise our religion, and very
frequently impossible for us to be masters of our own fate. We have been persecuted and
driven out of our land so frequently.
Now, I don’t want to go too far back into history, but I can go back to the 16th century and tell
you that the Arabs and the Persians, time and again, under Islam, have persecuted us. There
was a massacre in 1641 in Mardin province; in 1647-8, there was another massacre by the
[Gathunah] of Mosul1, and once again you can see we are suffering enormous persecution in
Mosul..
In 1715 the governor of Baghdad, Hasan Pasha, organised a massacre of our people in the
mountains outside Baghdad. In 1752-3 another massacre; in 1743-44 we suffered further
attacks from Ahmad Pasha, who was the general of the Ottoman forces. Many of our
settlements in Northern Iraq were attacked during this period and our villages plundered. In
1767-8, the governor of Mosul organised another massacre. It was Amin Pasha, and many of
the Yezidi people lost their life on this occasion. In 1773-4, again we were attacked by the
governor of Mosul. In 1779 and 1785-6, again, we were subject to a massacre organised by
the governor of Mosul. In 1792-3, again, another massacre organised by the governor of
Mosul and eight villages were demolished. In 1795-1799, we suffered repeated attacks from
the governor of Baghdad. In the early 1800s the Ottoman Empire attacked our settlements in
Northern Iraq and flattened our villages. In 1809-1810, the Ottoman Arabs carried out mass
1
In 1647/48, the hereditary ruler of Sheykhan, Shaykh Mirza, revolted against the Ottomans in order to
capture Mosul. As a result of this revolt, the Ottoman governor of Van, Shemsi Pasha, attacked with a large
force under his command. The Yezidi forces lost the battle with Sheykh Mirza being captured. Later he
would be hanged by the governor of Van.
(source: https://www.facebook.com/YezidiPeople/posts/753687071359355)
murders of our people. One of the worst massacres was in 1832, and this is extremely well
documented. There, the massacre was carried out by the commandant of the Ottoman Empire.
This is when we were also driven out of Turkey into Iraq. Villages were flattened, many
refugees fled to Mosul but most of them died on the way, and hundreds of thousands were
either murdered or forced to adopt Islam. In 1838, the governor of Diyarbakir attacked our
people in Sinjar yet again. In 1892, those who’d fled to the mountains from the region in
order to escape massacre were driven together and forced to adopt and recognise the Koran
and Islam. Those who didn’t were murdered or imprisoned. In 1914-15, there was a genocide,
of course, in Armenia, and many of our people managed to flee with the Armenians into the
Russian Caucasus.
If you look at our history, you can see that we are now suffering a similar fate today, either
forced Islamisation or murder or fleeing. In the 21st century, we are facing an incredible crisis
for Yezidis and for the whole of humanity, frankly.
When you look at the state of the hundreds of thousands of Yezidis who have now become
refugees, who are now hiding in the Sinjar Mountains, we can see that we are facing yet
another catastrophe, and nobody is giving us support.
We are of course involved with the Kurdish unity movement and the Kurdish women’s
movement. They managed to organise a safety corridor about 70-80 km long through which
hundreds of thousands of refugees have managed to escape, but this is in temperatures of
40°C fleeing through the desert.
Many of our children suffering from these attacks from the Islamic State have died in the
mountains while fleeing. There are no doubt thousands of bodies lying around in the
mountains, unidentified. We know that 5,000 women have been kidnapped from our people
and they are sold in the market place as slaves. We are also aware that many women have
been sold in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere.
Now we are not terrorists; it’s the people who are trading in human lives who are the
terrorists. Therefore, our plea to the whole of Europe, the West of Europe, and the whole of
the Western world is to take note of the fate of these thousands of people, 12,500 at least lost
in the mountains, hiding in the mountains, without medical assistance, without food. They
need humanitarian aid.
On the 19th November, we announced that we would like to establish a self-administering
region for these refugees. We also have refugees in the South-East of Turkey and in Northern
Iraq. They need support as well. They are absolutely dependent on humanitarian aid.
Our people have suffered massacre. We have been driven out of our homes and we feel that
the survivors really should be assisted and protected, and offered humanitarian aid. Thank
you very much for your patience.