Êzidîs: Self-governance is the basis of our assembly
HAYRİ DEMİR
SHENGAL (DİHA) - Following the attack of ISIS gang groups in the district of Shengal (Sinjar), Iraq on 3 August 2014 the Êzidis have found refuge hiding at Mount Shengal which have made them realize the importance of self-defence.
As the Êzidis are currently preparing themselves in retaliation to a possible act of massacre, the newly established Shengal Êzidi Assembly president Xıdır Salih says that the best response towards attacks is for the people to get organized and regulate self-governance to solve the problems of the people of Shengal.
Across the Shengal Mountains, the Newroz camp in Rojava, Êzidi people who are showing resistance in order to survive have formed the Shengal Êzidi Assembly which consists of a delegation of 29 members whom discuss and debate on issues such as the way the people of Shengal will be self-governed. Committees which are in conjunction to the assembly and the mountain camps have been formed.
These committees are attempting to solve the problems that the Êzidi people are having and improving the way that they are self-governing themselves. There are also 2 members who are representing Êzidis in the assembly of Shengal from the Shengal Resistance Units (YBŞ). They are being involved with having duties in alliance, organization, defence, economy, finance, diplomacy, and committees in researching the truth.
The president of the assembly, Xıdır Salih, states what kind of need the assembly was born from and how they are examining the way training is being made. Salih says that after the 73rd massacre in the history of Êzidis, the Êzidi people had to take refuge in the mountains. Salih mentions that there are still thousands of Êzidis residing in the mountains who have not left their homeland.
He explains that these people decided to be organized after the realization that the people needs to have this kind of self-defence. They have decided to form an assembly after this realization. "If we were organized we wouldn’t have gone through this genocide. We received a lesson after this so the people who were left over here had this kind of search. This search reached a result in the meeting arranged in January," added Salih.
Call for returning to free lands
Salih pointed out that the assembly has been striving to find solutions to the problems of the Êzidi people. He says "There are 600 families here. After the assembly was formed, the people who were located at camps in Derik and Duhok returned to Shengal. These people returned after the assembly was declared. We hope that the rest of people will return to their land and be part of the unity’’
"The solution to the problems of the Êzidi people are through the self-governance of Shengal. This self-governance will also stop massacres from happening. We are seeing this as a basis of our assembly" states Xıdır Salih.
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