The Free Women's Movement (TJA) held a press conference about the Yazidis who had to leave the KDP camps after threats. Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Amed provincial and district organizations, DEM Party Amed (Diyarbakır) MP Adalet Kaya, district municipality co-mayors, Peace Mothers and representatives of many non-governmental organizations attended the statement held at Dicle Culture and Art Association. 

 

Speaking first in the statement, Peace Mother Raife Özbey pointed out that KDP has been in betrayal for years. Özbey said: "They are traitors, they are not human. They have no right to play with the pride and honor of the Kurdish people. Under the leadership of the KDP, bombs are raining down on the mountains of Kurdistan. They want to re-enact the Yazidi edict with the hands of the enemy. How true is this? We condemn the KDP. Enough is enough."

 

The statement was read in Kurdish by DBP Women's Assembly Spokesperson Berivan Bahçeci and in Turkish by TJA activist Birsen Kurtboğdu.

 

'THE REASON FOR THE ATTACKS IS FEAR'

 

Stating that the attacks of the sovereign powers against the people of Kurdistan continue in the four parts of Kurdistan, Kurtboğdu reminded that the Syrian regime and the affiliated gang group Difa al Watanî massacred 13 people, including children, and wounded 12 others in Deir ez-Zor in the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria on August 6. Kurtboğdu added that the main target of the attacks is the women's revolution in North and East Syria and the peoples' will for a common life and said: "The reason for the attacks on the new life built with the philosophy of Jin, jiyan, azadî (Woman, life, freedom) is fear. Because a democratic and peaceful life is not in the codes of the colonialist, male-dominated nation-state mind."

 

'KDP POSES A THREAT TO YAZIDIS'

 

Stating that the AKP-MHP government in Turkey is attacking the Kurdish people's language, halay, dress and culture as a whole, Kurtboğdu reminded that artists and wedding guests were detained after a raid on a wedding in Esenyurt. "No power can stop us from our free halay, language and zılgıt. While the anti-Kurdish AKP-MHP regime is doing this in Turkey, in the Middle East it wants to seize the gains of the peoples and women of Kurdistan through dirty alliances and cooperation. Today, the KDP is collaborating with the AKP-MHP regime and organizing the attacks on Kurds. The treacherous KDP today poses a threat to the Yazidis. After Erdoğan's visit to Iraq, the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council ordered the closure of the Yazidi Freedom and Democracy Party (PADÊ), Tevgera Azadi ya Civaka Kurdistanê (Kurdistan Freedom Movement) and the Democratic Struggle Front Party. On the one hand, Kurds are being prevented from practicing democratic politics in this way. On the other hand, by shutting down PADÊ, the autonomy of Sinjar is tried to be eliminated. It is not coincidental that the decision to shut down PADÊ was taken on the 10th anniversary of the Edict. The decision means that the belief and will of the Yazidi community will be ignored and ISIS attacks will continue" she said. 

 

WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE 74TH DECREE

 

Kurtboğdu said that 10 years ago the KDP handed over Sinjar and the Yazidi community to the "dark gang" ISIS, and added that the Yazidi people, who had been subjected to 73 edicts throughout history, were subjected to one of the biggest genocides in history when ISIS gangs attacked Sinjar on August 3, 2014. Kurtboğdu added that the Êzîdî people were subjected to a great "genocide of women" with the 74th edict and said: "We know that the male-dominated nation-state mentality reinforces itself by turning women's bodies, identities and beliefs into a theater of war. This practice was unfortunately embodied by the dark ISIS gangs in Sinjar. At least 7 thousand women and children were kidnapped and forcibly detained by ISIS. Today, the fate of thousands of Yazidi women and children is still unknown. ISIS especially captured Yazidi women and children as 'spoils of war' and subjected them to systematic rape. Yazidi women and children were forced to convert and sold in slave markets. Thousands of Yazidi children were assimilated."

 

KDP PROBLEM

 

Stating that the AKP-MHP, which "adopts Kurdish enmity as its basic policy", has been continuing its policy of massacre with invasion attacks against Shengal for years, Kurtboğdu said: "The concept of attack in Sinjar, which is still continuing today in various aspects, is based on the destruction of the root cell of the tens of thousands of years of sociality, the culture of life and tradition on which the Yazidi community is based. The anti-Kurdish regimes and imperialist powers in the region, of which the AKP-MHP are a part, are today trying to take over the Yazidis, who are not subjected to physical genocide, in the grip of cultural genocide. These forces aim to destroy the will of the Yazidis and their governance mechanisms in Sinjar, to make them obey, to expel them from their settlements, and to assimilate and destroy the Yazidi faith. By continuing this cycle of hostility, the genocide is multifaceted and multipurpose. 10 years ago, the KDP prepared the ground for the Yazidi genocide, and today it is trying to expel hundreds of thousands of Yazidis from their lands. It wants to make the region Êzidî-free. Yazidis staying in KDP-controlled camps are trying to return to Sinjar, fearing that an attack is being organized against them. Yazidis are being targeted for a new genocide with fatwas issued in mosques in Zaxo."

 

'WOMEN WILL NOT FORGET YOUR TREACHEROUS STANCE'

 

Lastly, Kurtboğdu addressed the KDP and said: "Immediately give up the dirty game you are playing against the Yazidis. First of all, account for the genocide you abandoned the Yazidis to their fate in front of the eyes of the whole world. We women will not forget your treacherous stance for the sake of your daily dynastic interests. You are the author of a possible new edict. Today, if the Yazidi community is protected and defended under the leadership of women who claim their ancient truth and turn their faces to the free future, if the insistence on a new life with the philosophy of 'Jin, jiyan azadî' is not given up, if their answer to the insistence on war is peace, then your end is near. We will continue to defend the right of Yazidis to live freely and in peace in their own land" she said and invited all peoples of the world to solidarity with Yazidis.