Afrinpost – Special
In a reality contrary to what the Yezidi Kurds enjoyed during the era of “self-administration” formed by the people of Afrin in their various religious and sects, the Yazidi Kurds religion from performing their rituals and festivals and declaring their religious affiliation, as it is a sufficient reason for abuse, persecution, kidnapping, and torture by the Islamic militia of the Turkish occupation and the Muslim Brotherhood.
In this context, the Yezidi Kurds are no longer able to celebrate their festivals, such as the Red Wednesday festival, which has a special sanctity among the followers of the religion, which is summarized in considering that day, the timing of life on earth, according to Yazidi beliefs.
“Self-administration” had announced it an official holiday, official circles and schools were being closed to celebrate the feast, like all Islamic or Christian religion holidays, in addition to organizing “administration” for a central celebration, where it sought to protect the Kurdish Yezidi component and provide all the capabilities available to it in order to revive the ancient Kurdish religion and prevent its extinction, after the global terror attempt to eliminate it in its center in Shankal through ISIS attack on it in 2014.
After four years, ISIS attacks were repeated, but this time in Afrin, in a different form called the “Syrian National Army” affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, in order to eliminate religious and sectarian diversity and the tolerant model in Afrin, which was an example of fraternity among religions, sects and ethnicities away from the culture of killing that the extremists spread it like ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood sponsored by the Turkish occupation.
The Self-administration granted Yezidis rights for the first time in Syrian history
In the context, “Suleiman Jaafar,” an official in self-administration in Afrin, who is currently residing in the forced displacement areas of Al-Shahba, who was running during the era of self-administration the head of the Foreign Affairs, said in a statement to “Afrinpost” that “during self-administration era, we have been recognized for the first time in Syria as an independent religion that has its own characteristics and culture and is not a sect as some wanted, and singled out the social contract Article 33, which says: Yezidi religion is a religion in its own right, and its adherents alone have the right to enact their own laws, and according to this article we opened in Afrin a headquarters for the Yezidi cultural and social association “
Continuing: “In every Yazidi village, we opened a school to provide the elderly and young Yezidi people with religious education for the first time in the history of Syria, and the Yezidis took their places in all of self-administration (legislative, executive, and justice) institutions, but when the Turkish occupation occupied Afrin, they destructed all the Yazidi shrines like (Ain Dara, Barsa Khatoun, Sheikh Hamid in Qastal Jindo, the King of Adi in Qibar, the shrine of Qarah Jurnah, the shrines of the village of Sinka, Shader, Basofan, Faqira, and Sheikh Barakat)
Afrin was occupied by international consensus unlike Shangal
Adding: “The Turkish occupation destroyed the headquarters of the Yezidis Association in the city of Afrin and carried out numerous violations against the Yezidis. The first was the killing of the citizen Omar Mamo from the village of Qibar because he refused to pronounce the Islamic Shahada, in addition to the killing and kidnapping of many Yazidis, and closing all Yezidi schools that were opened by the self-administration, and in each Yazidi village, they opened Quranic schools to compel the Yazidis to convert them to Islam, and in each Yazidi village they set up an Islamic mosque, forcing the Yezidi women and girls to wear Islamic legal dress.
Continuing: “The situation in Afrin differs from that of Shangal. Shangal was attacked by the terrorist organization ISIS without consulting anyone, but the occupation of Afrin was carried out with the agreement of the countries that have a military presence in Syria, so every country granted a region of Syria to close its eyes to those countries when it cuts parts of Syria. Hence, Turkey had occupied Afrin with international consensus and trade-offs before the eyes of the United States, Russia, Britain, Iran and Israel.
In conclusion: “Before the Turkish occupation army arrived in Afrin, the mercenaries were screaming that they would achieve in Afrin what they could not achieve in Shingal, and every group was led by an ISIS member, who escaped from Shangal, Mosul, Raqqa and others.”
Intimidation, as a way to Islamize the Yazidis
As for Ali Iso, the director of the Yazdina Foundation, said in a statement to “Afrinpost” about the conditions of the Yezidis in Afrin during the occupation of Afrin, that “the Yezidis in Afrin are subjected to systematic violations targeting their religious and ethnic identity, and these intensity has increased in recent months due to the desire of the extremists to expels the largest possible number of Yazidis and convert them to Islam through numerous terrorist methods, including kidnapping Yazidi women and girls and reminding them of captivity and rape.
Completing: “It is not possible to make an accurate assessment of the extent of the damage and violations against the Yazidis in Afrin, but we at the Yazdina Foundation only monitored within 11 days between the months of February and March this year that the Turkish-backed extremists kidnapped two Yezidi girls and a Yezidi widow, and their names: Arin Hassan, Ghazala Battal, Guleh Hassan, and their fates are still unknown.
As for the approximate number of Yazidis displaced people from Afrin, Iso said: “ the number of Yazidis who have been displaced from Afrin, according to statistics by the Yazdina Foundation, reached about 90% and some Yazidi villages were completely depopulated of Yazidis like the village of Baflon.” .
As for their vision of the solution in Afrin, Iso said: “The solution lies in the ending of the Turkish occupation, and the exit of all extremist factions supported by Turkey, and thus handing over the city management to the local people in a way that guarantees civilians their dignity and rights.”
From the first day of the occupation: the Yezidis did not practice their rituals
As for the practice of the religious rituals in Afrin, Iso said: “From the first day of the occupation of Afrin, the Yezidis did not practice their religious rituals, and in many cases, extremist factions prevented Yazidis to visit their dead graves.” .
Adding: “According to our monitoring in the Yazdina Foundation, the graves of the Yezidis were not spared from the violations of the occupiers, so it was observed that the militants destroyed the tombstones of more than 350 Yezidis graves and stole the contents of some of them. In regard with the celebration of the Yezidi New Year, they contented themselves in Afrin by lighting some candles inside their homes, praying to God to keep them from the scourge of the extremists.
As for the religious shrines of the Yazidi Kurds in occupied Afrin, Iso indicate: “More than eighteen religious shrines belonging to the Yezidis are totally and partially destroyed, and the Sheikh Sharfdin shrine in the village of Bafloun, contains a bomb that did not explode from the remnants of the Turkish invasion, where the extremists of the Olive Branch operation intentionally have not removed it, as well as throwing waste in the Sheikh Ali shrine in the village of Basofan, and this is reported by the Yizdina Foundation monitoring team, which works secretly in Afrin.
