Lilav Eli-Tolin Muhamed

 

SHEHBA - Afrîn’s forcibly displaced Ezîdî women said they had left Afrîn to not face what had happened in Shengal. The women appealed to the AKP Chair Tayyip Erdoğan as follows; “Erdoğan, as Ezîdî women we aren’t scared of you and your gangs. We are the owners of these lands and we don’t leave our lands to you and your gangs.”

 

Ezîdî people, who have fought to protect their belief for centuries and faced 73th edict, are among the people forcibly displaced from Afrîn due to the attacks of Turkish army and its backed groups on the city. Ezîdî people saw Afrîn’s nature decorated mountainous and olive trees as a safe place and preferred to live the people of Afrîn. The Ezîdî people faced the attacks on Afrin as the people of Afrin and they migrated to Shehba region along with the people of Afrin due to the attacks.

 

Ezîdî women, who keep their struggle in the tents set up in Shehba, spoke to our news agency. One of the women Eyşe Sido said, “As an Ezîdî woman I would like to first say that Afrin was our breath. Nothing can take us away from our lands. We grew up with love of land and we raised our children just like that.”

 

‘We left Afrin to not face what had happened in Shengal’

 

Eyşe continued to speak as follows; “We left Afrin to not face what had happened in Shengal. We didn’t want face what had happened in Shengal. We had a bloody-minded enemy. That’s why we came to Shehba. We will not return to Afrin until those who have the mindset of Daesh are there. We will not go a place where Erdoğan and his gangs exist while we still have pain for Shengal. Because the practices of Daesh is performed in Afrin now. Many women were killed, abducted and raped in Afrin. They do what they had done in Shengal. But we have YPG and YPJ. We believe in them. We will liberate and return Afrin with them.

 

“We understand ourselves and our faith with the philosophy of Leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan), we know very well who is protecting us. For this reason, we will follow our leader’s path to the end. We pray to Melek Taus (Peacock Angel) to free him from behind the bars.”

 

‘We didn’t want to fall into hands of those who have the mindset of Daesh’

 

Nahide Mihemet said they had lived in Afrin’s Baflone village and the village had been under control of YPJ and YPG before and she added, “The people of Baflone village always stood by the fighters. We were with our fighters until the last minute. They are our hope for life. Erdoğan collected all gangs and attacked us. He attacked us for 58 days by using all kinds of weapons; he wanted to annihilate the Kurdish people. But he understood that our will was stronger than his weapons. We wouldn’t leave Afrin despite all weapons used against us. But we didn’t want to fall into Erdoğan’s hands because he has the mindset of Daesh. Afrin is ours and we will never leave it to Erdoğan.”

 

‘We will never leave our identity and Afrin’

 

One of the women Gülê Sido appealed to the AKP Chair Erdoğan as follows; “Erdoğan, as Ezîdî women we aren’t scared of you and your gangs. We are the owners of these lands and we don’t leave our lands to you and your gangs. We will never leave our religion, our identity and our Afrin. Erdoğan should know that very well.”

 

“The mountains are the only hope of the Kurdish people,” Emine Eli said, “We will fight to the end with the power we have taken from Leader Apo. Our children sacrificed their lives for this cause. Everyone should know very well that Afrin belongs to the people of Afrin.”