On 3 August 2014, the ‘IS’ terror militia invaded around 20 Êzîdi villages and towns in Shingal, in northern Iraq. In only the first few days, 3,000 men were murdered and buried in mass graves. Women and girls were systematically raped and sold to slave traders; younger boys were abducted and recruited as child soldiers. It is estimated that up to 5,000 Êzîdis were murdered. The UN estimates up to 10,000 deaths, with up to 7,000 women and children abducted. Around 400,000 Êzîdis were displaced from their home region in Iraq. To this day, 2,700 women and children remain missing.
Survivors’ reports, which were compiled in the book ‘Ferman 74’ and published in a German translation in 2021, suggest that the Êzîdi population in northern Iraq was the main target of the IS terrorists and that they systematically pursued this persecution and murder on the basis of ethno-religious motives. In addition, IS destroyed the Êzîdis’ livelihoods: homes, gardens, and farms were burnt to the ground to prevent their possible return.
However, the brutal oppression and violence did not end after 2014/2015. In 2018, more and more reports emerged from Afrîn of abducted Êzîdi women. In spring 2023, a video emerged showing how Êzîdi men were forced to convert, similar to 2014. A look at history shows that Êzîdis were repeatedly subjected to violence and oppression during the First World War in the Ottoman Empire, and later in Turkey, as well.
After the IS invasion of northern Iraq in 2014, the then Green-Social Democrat state government in Baden-Württemberg decided to take in 1,000 women and children as a special contingent. The men of the families were to be brought over later. To this day, 18 Êzîdi women are still waiting for their husbands to be brought to safety with the support of Baden-Württemberg as promised. In 2015, over 75,000 Êzîdis fled to Germany, where an estimated 200,000 of them currently live. This makes the Êzîdi community in Germany the largest outside of Iraq. In January 2023, the Bundestag unanimously voted to officially recognise the atrocities as genocide. However, this recognition remains merely symbolic. The German government has yet to take any substantive action against the oppression of the Êzîdis.
Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide should therefore not only serve as reminders, but should also encourage real action against the systematic discrimination and persecution of the Êzîdis.
