The Middle East, with its peoples, nature, way of life, identities, religions, and beliefs, lived for thousands of years with its own distinctive and holistic political order. Because the lands of the Middle East were shaped by free peoples living in a close relationship with the land, guided by an understanding of democratic nationhood. In this geography, a communal and spiritual bond developed between the people and democracy. As a result, a culture of peace, brotherhood, equality, and unity was built among peoples over thousands of years. With these foundations, a historical and rich heritage emerged. Within this historical and rich heritage, the peoples of the Middle East created a communal and free way of life and lived in a confederal system. In the Middle East, every inch of land, every handful of soil, every drop of water was shared with a communal understanding. Alongside this, happiness, tolerance, friendship, partnership, and an ethical-political social life grew intertwined like flowers in a garden of paradise. It was, in a sense, a paradise; the spirit of communal life was shaped by the mindset of nature and became enduring.
However, with the arrival of hegemonic powers such as Britain and France, this rich historical heritage was interfered with through missionary activities. Because the peoples with the largest populations and the most ancient geography in this region are the Kurds and the Arabs, these powers sought to exploit them and seize all surface and underground resources. To do so, they provided money and weapons to Kurdish and Arab tribes and had strong armies formed from their youth. Yet over time, when they saw that those strengthened by money and weapons could act independently for their own interests, they withdrew their support and activated a policy of fragmentation. From that period onward, seeds of hostility were sown between the Kurds and Arabs, who were democratic nations. Although the form of the fragmentation policy changes according to time and place, its mentality remains the same. In fact, compared to the past, it now sacrifices people to its interests through even dirtier methods, under the name of “agreements.”
Although 200 years have passed, the same policy continues to pit peoples against each other through ethnic conflicts. Whose interests does this war serve, and who suffers the damage? Those fighting and those being killed are Kurds and Arabs. The losers and those harmed in this war are Kurds and Arabs; the winners are the dominant powers. The weakening of Kurds and Arabs in the Middle East forms the basis of the hegemony of those dominant powers that today incite Kurdish and Arab peoples against one another even in the West. As a result, thousands of people are killed, abducted, and forced to flee their homes. Yet this is not a concern for the dominant powers, because they themselves are the cause of this war. For example, within one year 45,000 Palestinians have been killed and cities destroyed. Even during so-called “agreement” processes, those who return are targeted and killed. This does not trouble them; on the contrary, they sit around round tables and make commercial decisions about occupation and intervention under the name of “reconstruction,” allocating budgets accordingly. But they do not speak of the peoples who survived the massacres.
Attacking Shengal would be political suicide
In Aleppo, the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyah were, before the eyes of the world, subjected to brutal attacks by HTS in the freezing cold. Now they want to carry out the same attack in Shengal. For this reason, the policy of fragmentation continues in new forms. Are the threats made by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan against Shengal a sign of a new genocide connected to this fragmentation policy? After the visits of the Iraqi Foreign Minister and Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, one feels a deep sense of danger. What was discussed at the table during these visits? What agreements were reached? It is clear that the Turkish state has a dirty plan for Shengal and wants to involve the Iraqi state in this plan and have practical steps carried out through it.
Is the transfer of 7,000 ISIS detainees to Iraq also part of this dirty plan of the Turkish state? Questions like these lead us Yazidis to serious concerns. Today we feel suspicion of the Iraqi state, because we fear that, once again, as during the time of the genocide, it will fail to fulfill its responsibility towards the Yazidis. If, in exchange for certain demands, it makes concessions to the Turkish state and attacks Shengal, this would be a strategic mistake. The Iraqi state has still not accounted for the genocide; it remains responsible to the Yazidis. Instead of giving account, attacking Shengal would be political suicide; it would serve the interests of the policy of fragmentation, and its consequences would ultimately strike the Iraqi state itself. The Iraqi state knows that half the population was forced to migrate because of the genocide and still lives in tents in camps.
The fate of the abducted Yazidis remains unknown. Our bones are still beneath the soil. Those who have returned have not yet been able to resettle. Our settlements remain destroyed. We are still living with the pain of the genocide. Those who should feel this pain, try to ease it, and stand by us instead, want to make us relive that pain. There is a danger facing Shengal; there is an attempt at a new genocide. Military activity is increasing everywhere, and many soldiers and security forces are being deployed in Shengal. This mobilization is a sign of a new attack. To prevent this attack, a new unity and alliance are needed. Because Shengal is the qibla of the Yazidis; to defend Shengal is to defend the existence and honor of the Yazidis. Therefore, today is the day to stand up for Shengal.
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