3 August 2014

Eleven years have passed, and the wound remains open, bleeding in the hearts of the Yazidis…

Eleven years of heavy memories, unending pain, and scenes and words we never imagined could exist in the 21st century — yet they did.

They happened on the land of Sinjar — the homeland of our ancestors and the last refuge of dignity.

Betrayal

The betrayal of those close… and of neighbours.

The very neighbours who were supposed to protect our honour were the first to sell it — without a flicker of conscience.

Captivity

Every scream of an enslaved Yazidi girl will remain a curse upon the heads of the criminals for all eternity.

If they escaped justice on earth, divine justice will not fail.

Mass Killing

So many bodies were left unburied in the soil of Sinjar…

The Mountain

Mount Sinjar was never just land — it was our wall of resistance, our shelter from extinction.

It stood by us after God, bearing witness to our faith when the world turned away.

Displacement

Did the ambitions of a few justify turning thousands of innocents into refugees?

Did it all deserve to leave a permanent stain of shame on the foreheads of the guilty?

The answer is no.

And “no” will echo through history, shouted by the souls of martyrs and survivors alike.

Despite everything… we remain.

Despite 74 attempts of genocide… we remain.

Because we believe God is with us. Because truth cannot die.

Because those who tried to erase us lost their battle the moment they betrayed us.

We stayed.

We rebuilt what was destroyed.

We carry the memory of those we lost in our hearts.

Generation after generation, we will keep telling the world:

We are a people who cannot be erased.

A faith that cannot be broken.

A land that is not for sale.

Shireen Al-Kalo – Member of the ICMGLT Yazidi Working Group