Yazidi and Arab women attend workshop in Shengal

A two-day workshop organised by the Free Yazidi Women’s Movement (TAJÊ) is taking place in Shengal. Yazidi and Arab women from Iraq are taking part in the event in the village of Til Izir. TAJÊ spokesperson Sebiha Sebri remarked that the purpose of the workshop was to discuss cooperation in the fight against feminicide and massacres in Iraq: “Such an event for Yazidi and Arab women is being held for the first time in Shengal. All women participate in the workshop with their own culture and beliefs. As women, we are affected by the same problems. We are attacked because we are women. Therefore, it is high time that we came together and exchanged ideas.”

The planned exchange is being hampered by the Iraqi authorities. According to the organisers, women in Mosul who had travelled from Baghdad and other cities were sent back for “security reasons”. The representatives of various women’s organisations were told that Shengal is not a safe region and that air raids are taking place there. Another reason given was the ISIS attack on the Sinaa prison in Hesekê in northern Syria, for which Islamists from Iraq and the Turkish occupied zones had infiltrated the city.

Despite this blockade, the workshop started with the participation of women from Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk and Shengal. The welcome address was given by TAJÊ representative Riham Heco in Kurmancî and Arabic. Riham Heco expressed her gratitude to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and especially to the YPJ fighters for fighting ISIS in Hesekê: “We are indebted to them because they saved women and humanity from further massacres.”