By Zhelwan Z. Wali

Dr Dekhil Sheikh Saeed, a well-known Yezidi political figure former cabinet minister in the Kurdistan Regional Government, explained to Rudaw’s Zhelwan Zeyad about why tomorrow’s Yezidi new year celebration, or Red Wednesday, will be a poignant event for the faith that suffered cruelly at the hands of the Islamic State.


Rudaw: Will there be New Year celebration as usual at Lalish temple tomorrow?

Dr Dekhil: As usual, religious ceremonies take place. What differs this in this year’s feast from the previous years is that ISIS captured Shingal and many other Yezidi villages and towns, killing approximately 1,000 innocent Yezidis, kidnapping our sisters, mothers and daughters as slaves for the extremist jihadists.

An estimated 130,000 Yezidis fled for their lives and sought refuge in the Kurdistan region. How can we be happy when such an outrageous calamity happened to us? Tomorrow we will also commemorate last year’s catastrophe when ISIS took over Shingal in August.


Why is this New Year special for Yezidis?

We are all saddened by ISIS atrocities and the world must put an end to it. And currently the Kurdistan region is fighting the most barbaric terrorist group in the world, a group that doesn’t value human life. Once again, each Yezidi family has lost someone or has someone that is missing. We will not hold any parties or celebrations, just perform the religions duties.



How many Yezidis are killed and missing?

As far as the casualties and missing are concerned, we have no exact statistical data, but we believe more than 1,000 Yezidis, including men, women and even children were assassinated. Some 5,000 Yezidis are still missing.



What are the future plans for the Yezidi community?

Shingal still is held by ISIS, and no time frame has been assigned to liberate the city from the extremists. It is not only us [Yezidis] who have decided to start launching assaults on the extremists inside Shingal. Kurdish political parties are also playing a decisive role in that regard.

We know very well that Arab tribal forces in the area helped ISIS capture our villages, towns and Shingal in particular. Now, the situation is very complicated [because] forces on Mount Shingal are not united, they have different opinions about how to liberate Shingal.

Rudaw