Written by Dr. Amy L. Beam   

This story originally appeared, with photos, Sept 9, 2014, at
http://kurdistantribune.com/2014/traumatized-ezidis-share-tragic-stories-at-hilal-school-north-kurdistan/.

I was planning on attending a wedding, not a funeral, this week in the village of Hilal. A Kurdish wedding is a grand, carnival-like, three-day community event with outdoor music, dancing, and eating from morning 'til midnight. But the wedding was cancelled.
It would be an affront to flaunt a wedding in the face of the 300 Ezidis that the tiny village of Hilal had been hosting at its school for 16 days. Unlike the Roboski school 30 kilometers up the canyon road, the Hilal community had not asked the refugees who had escaped the 'Islamic State' invasion in Shengal to move on to make room for the next arrivals.

The next arrivals would just have to move further north into Turkey, to Şenoba, Şirnak, Siirt, Cizre, Silopi, Batman, and Diyarbakir. By the first week in September, all the communities were saturated with Ezidi refugees fleeing the 'Islamic State' (also known as IS, ISIS, and ISIL).

Ido spoke English and translated for me. He used to work as a translator for the Americans. His family fled when ISIS entered their village and kidnapped their neighbors: three women and one man. No one knows where they are or if they are alive.

"Has anyone told you when you would have to leave?" I asked.
"No. No one knows where to send us. They just let us stay and they feed us and have given us blankets, mats, pillows, and clothing. We are sleeping in every classroom and also outside. We are very thankful to the people of Hilal and to the PKK for helping us get here."

The Memory of Old Hilal, Destroyed in 1994

I explained, "Do you know why they don't ask you to leave?" I pointed to the 2500-meter-high mountain with vertical rocks pointing to the sky. "If you drive 10 kilometers up that mountain canyon road, you will find old Hilal. It's overgrown with grape vines now. In 1994 Turkish soldiers bombed and burned the village and made everyone leave at gun point."

"There were 5600 Kurds living there. My friend was 19. He showed me his house. It is in ruins now. No one lives in old Hilal. Three thousand went to Maxmur Camp in Iraq. Others went to Mersin. A few stayed and rebuilt a new Hilal here on the main road. But everyone knows the real Hilal is not here. It is up on that mountain. Even the CIA map still shows it in the mountains, not here on the main road to Şirnak. No one is allowed to return to live there."

"In the 1990s Turkey destroyed nearly 3000 towns and villages and displaced over a million people . . . some say three million . . . so Kurdish people know your suffering."

"Maxmur was created by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). After ISIS attacked you in Shengal, they invaded Maxmur on August 7. Many of the women and children fled and returned here after being away twenty years. Their husbands and sons stayed to fight the Islamic State."

I paused repeatedly to let Ido translate to the gathering group.
"Everyone living now in Hilal is a refugee from old Hilal twenty years ago. Everyone over twenty-one knows what it is like to be forced out with only the clothes on his or her back. These people are very poor. They know what it's like to have nothing. Sometimes they have only bread and tomatoes or cheese to eat. But no one has the heart to ask you to leave. They just can't. They just can't bring themselves to ask you to leave. It would be a shame to Kurdish culture. They don't want to hurt you more than you have already been hurt. That's why, unlike the other refugee camps, they let you stay."

By now I was surrounded by Ezidis six-deep in a tight circle. Each wanted to be heard, not only by me, but by the world. Ido translated their stories.

The Islamic State Attack on Shengal, August 3-4

On August 3 and 4, 2014, ISIS gangs attacked the villages of Shengal (also known as Şingale or Sinjar), Iraq, on the northwest border with Syria. When the killing began the survivors in Hilal school fled to the mountain behind their homes. They were trapped there for eight days in the blistering sun. Had it not been for Americans who dropped food and water, everyone would have died. Many did die of dehydration, their bodies left to decompose.

On August 12, the Kurdish guerilla forces of PKK (from Turkey) and YPG (from Syria), with the help of U.S. aerial bombing, opened a route from Shengal to Syria. Thousands of people escaped from the Shengal mountain and went east to the Syrian border by car and on foot. From there they traveled to Zakho in South Kurdistan where the PKK helped them cross over the mountain on foot into Roboski, Turkey (North Kurdistan). They were then driven by bus one hour north to Hilal school, arriving on August 20.

More people gathered around me. Some were holding the ID cards of their dead loved ones in their hands, waiting to tell me their story. Someone, somewhere should honor the lives of those who were murdered by recording their deaths. But few journalists have shown up to tell their story, so I listened all afternoon.

Ismail's Story

Survivors at Hilal say that between 2,000 and 5,000 Ezidis were kidnapped or killed in Shengal. Ismail said five men and seven women who were his neighbors were kidnapped by ISIS and taken to Tlafar, in west Mosul. Ismail's cousin, Ibrahim, is among the kidnapped. Ibrahim managed to call Ismail once on August 14 (approximately). His cousin said nearly 100 women were being held captive with him. Ibrahim's son Zeden managed to escape. No one has heard from Ibrahim again.

Naam's Story

Naam's 13-year-old son, Adnan, was killed August 4 in the street by ISIS when they opened fire into a crowd with automatic rifles. Adnan's friend ran to Naam's house and told her Adnan was dead. The family of ten fled within minutes without being able to retrieve Adnan's body. Naam is now in Hilal school with her husband and three remaining sons and three daughters.

Drwish's Story

Drwish's brother Alyas was a shepherd. Alyas and his son were guarding their sheep. ISIS kidnapped them and took them to a neighboring Arab village where ISIS cut off the son's finger. The son escaped to Zakho. ISIS used Alyas' phone to call his father Drwish. They demanded money. Drwish said he had no money to pay a ransom. He knew it was useless, anyway. He does not know if his son is dead or alive.

Hadji's Story

Hadji Kheder's 37-year-old son Saado worked in the Iraq government in Shengal. When a group of government workers was on their way home from work, ISIS stopped them. They identified the Muslims in the group and told them to go home. Then they shot dead the remaining 22 Ezidi government workers. A friend brought Saado's body to his father's house. Saado's father, wife, surviving son, and daughter are refugees in Hilal school.

Terrified Nephew's Story

One man in his thirties is in Hilal school with his uncle. His uncle's brother was killed. ISIS used the dead uncle's phone to take a photo of the body and send it to his brother with the message (translated), "This is what will happen to you if you don't leave".
The young man passed me his phone to show me the photo. His uncle's body was covered in blood. The decapitated head sat two feet away, tipped over on one ear, facing the camera. There was blood everywhere and ragged, raw flesh on the torso and head. The photo was gruesome and real, not like one of those Photo-shopped fake beheadings with Hollywood blood powder and the body neatly arranged.

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words: A Mutilated Woman's Story

The nephew showed me the next photo. It was of a stripped woman lying dead on her back. Both of her breasts had been sliced open to the ribs from top to bottom. I did not see a pool of blood under her. I bowed my head and hoped they killed her with a bullet first to stop her heart from pumping. "Where did you get this photo?" I asked the man. "I took it myself," Ido translated.

Another man passed me his phone with a photo of three bodies in the street burned to a black crisp. I pinched my lips and silently handed the phone back.

When trauma happens, tears are delayed by shock and the survival instinct to escape. Trauma is masked with dry eyes, a flat voice, a stone face, a vacant stare, a rocking motion, a trembling hand. Every Ezidi in Hilal school has been terrorized and deeply traumatized. They have had no opportunity to wail at a graveside and release the full breadth and depth of their grief.

Avden's and Sare's Story

Then Avden handed me the plastic ID cards of two children and a man. "This little girl and boy were shot along with their father, Khale, in their village of Hatin. These are my sister Sare's children. Their names are Basima and Barzan. Sare is here in the camp," Ido translated for Avden.

I asked Avden if he would bring the mother to me. The crowd parted as a woman was coaxed to the front of the circle to tell her story. ISIS was shooting, so they ran for their lives. The woman had a small smile pasted on her face just for me. I asked Ido if he were sure this was the mother of the dead children.

"Yes, I am sure. I know her. Can't you see she is wearing black for mourning? Why do you ask?"

"Ask her why she is smiling. I don't understand." Ido asked her. As if given permission, her smile vanished. She barely whispered, "What am I supposed to do?"

I got up and hugged Sare. With my hug, her expressionless face contorted into sobs. Her wall of strength crumbled as she collapsed in a dead faint. I went down with her and was able to grab her head so it did not crack on the concrete. Sare's mother, standing next to her, took one look at her daughter and fainted, too.

A conundrum indeed: What should Sare do?

Ezidis Relocated from Hilal

Hilal DBP (formerly BDP) party leader, Sadik Benek, is also the Hilal refugee camp manager. This afternoon, as I complete this story, Benek stated the 300 Hilal Ezidis would be transferred to Diyarbakir on September 10, so the Hilal school can open for the new school year. I tried to dissuade him two days before when he said they could be sent back to Iraq because the 'Islamic State' will be defeated and Shengal will be safe. After our discussion, he promised they would go north to Diyarbakir. However, other sources today say Diyarbakir camps are full.

As of this afternoon, the Hilal school Ezidis are now relocated to the Cizre camp (one hour from the Iraq border). Are the Ezidis now going to be used as sacrificial lambs for Kurdistan, with or without Baghdad, to reclaim its territory from the 'Islamic State'? According to a news story on Sept. 9 by DIHA, fighting continues in Shengal.

An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 Ezidis have fled Shengal to Turkey, mostly entering at Roboski. News reports state that 100,000 Ezidis are internally displaced in Iraq, but Ezidis I spoke to in three camps insist the Ezidi population with its homeland in Shengal is between 700,000 and one million. Prior to the Islamization of the Middle East, there were 20 million Ezidis. Although they speak Kurdish, they are neither Kurdish, Arabic, Muslim, nor Christian. Ezidis are Ezidis.

For Ezidis There Is No Returning

Ido spoke for everyone, "We will go anywhere. Just don't send us back to Iraq. We can never return. We cannot live among Muslim Arabs who killed us and drove us out. Shengal is surrounded on all sides by Arabs. We are terrified. We want to go to Europe."

The future of the Ezidi survivors is now in the hands of governments of the world. They will need more than housing, food, and a new beginning. Their trauma must be addressed, also.

Dr. Amy L. Beam promotes tourism in eastern Turkey at Mount Ararat Trek and writes in support of Kurdish human rights. Follow her on Twitter @amybeam or email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Follow other news stories on Yezidis with embedded links and photos by Amy L Beam at KurdistanTribune.com http://kurdistantribune.com/?s=amy+l+beam