The KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Committee for Peoples and Beliefs released a statement celebrating Çarşema Sor (Red Wednesday), the Yazidi New Year.
The KCK statement on Wednesday reads as follows:
“We celebrate this year’s Çarşema Sor, which holds great significance and meaning in the faith of our Êzidî (Yazidi) people. We hope this year’s festivities will be a source of blessings and bring abundance and prosperity. We hope that Çarşema Sor—which marks the beginning of a new year for the Êzidî people and the sacred union of the earth and humanity—will bring peace and brotherhood to all.
For thousands of years, our Êzidî people have celebrated the Çarşema Sor, which is rooted in virtues and beauties imbued with morality. These celebrations also signify their steadfast commitment to preserving their cultural identity and their resilience. This resilient spirit has ensured the survival of the Êzidîs despite all manner of attacks. Our Êzidî people, who have not forgotten their ancient past, are celebrating Çarşema Sor this year with even deeper significance, as it holds a special place in their religious memory.
A society’s commitment to its faith and culture is the defense of its very existence. Our Êzidî people, who have suffered countless massacres to this day, were subjected to the massacre by the Salafi-jihadist ISIS gangs on August 3, 2014. In the face of this genocide, which went down in history as the 74th Ferman, our Êzidî people managed to remain on their ancestral lands by resisting not only through faith and cultural resilience but also through self-defense. The self-defense resistance they added to their ongoing spiritual identity and social cultural resistance has strengthened their unity, enabled them to engage in organized struggle, and provided them with significant political experience. The resistance they developed against the 74th Ferman and have maintained uninterrupted to this day has also fostered a profound awakening within the Êzidî people. This awakening, which has emerged in all aspects of their lives—particularly in the social, political, self-defense, and religious spheres—has paved the way for a renaissance within our Êzidî people. Undoubtedly, the consciousness nurtured by values such as the Çarşema Sor festival, alongside self-defense, has played a significant role in the Êzidîs’ survival and their resistance against all forms of attack. Today, the Êzidîs have made significant progress toward becoming a democratic community. Having gained experience in self-governance, the Êzidîs have also made significant strides in renewing their historical memory based on their needs.
This year’s Çarşema Sor festival is being celebrated amid an environment where the Third World War in the Middle East continues to intensify. This war continues to cause major humanitarian disasters. Our Êzidî people have faced new dangers during this period of war. This year’s Çarşema Sor festival coincides with a time when these dangers and threats peak. For this reason, our Êzidî people have a greater need than ever to strengthen their unity, foster a culture of solidarity among themselves, and develop their own defense measures. All Êzidîs, particularly our Êzidî people in Şengal (Sinjar), need to develop self-defense measures with a sense of patriotism in the face of potential attacks that threaten them and target their very existence. We believe that while celebrating their holidays, our Êzidî people will not let this important duty slip from their minds.
On the occasion of the Çarşema Sor festival, we commemorate with deep gratitude and respect all our martyrs who fell in the struggle for a democratic communal society—including our comrades who were martyred while defending our Êzidî people against the genocide attack of August 3, 2014, and those who fell in the face of the denial, annihilation, and extermination attacks imposed on the Kurdish people. We call on the Êzidîs and all our people to uphold the memory of the martyrs, and once again we celebrate the Êzidî people’s Çarşema Sor. We hope that this year’s festival will serve as an opportunity for the Êzidîs to live democratic and free lives, without being subjected to any threats or attacks, in accordance with their faith and social identity.”
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