YBŞ (Shengal Resistance Units) fighters spoke on the comments that HPG guerillas should leave Shengal and underlined that they still remembered the time KDP peshmergas abandoned the Êzidi people to face a massacre.

YBŞ fighter Egit Şengali from Shengal’s Dugura village said about the ISIS attack on Shengal: “We couldn’t understand what happened exactly on August 3 either. All of a sudden, there were sounds of mortars in Shengal and we were all shocked.”

Şengali stated that they counted on the peshmerga a lot, and thought that the peshmerga would defend them in the face of an attack, no matter what, but the peshmerga abandoned them and ran in the first ISIS attack. “We told them we wanted to take their weapons and defend Shengal. They left Shengal, without even giving us the weapons,” said Şengali and expressed that when the ISIS gangs first attacked Zorava village, the youth insistently asked the peshmerga for weapons but the peshmerga said “We will protect this place” and attacked the young people.

“WE DIDN’T KNOW THE GUERILLA BUT THEY SAVED THE PEOPLE”

Şengali expressed that the youth said “Look, the peshmerga are running and they have abandoned our people in the hands of the gangs” when the ISIS attacks began and spoke about those days: “First, the guerrilla came and fought. Even though we didn’t know the guerrilla, we saw that they saved people from the gangs and took them to Shengal mountain. We were so happy for that. They opened a corridor in the area called Dolan Mifriq and saved the people. Some Êzidî youth decided to fight for their people, when they saw the guerrilla fighting for them. Many young people fought in the Êmo region alongside the guerrilla and saved the people.”

Şengali said during the 7 months they stayed in the mountains of Shengal, the only fighting force they saw was the PKK, and that civilians fought alongside the PKK. Şengali underlined that those who fought in Shengal’s mountains ate nothing for 7 days and had only Kalashnikovs for weapons and continued: “But they always prioritized fighting with hope and faith. Let it never be forgotten that these heroes will always have their place in the history of resistance for the Êzidi people and Shengal’s children will bear their names. Now Êzidis in Shengal defend themselves. Their defense forces are YBŞ and YJŞ. So the presence or absence of the peshmerga doesn’t mean anything for us anymore. It is apparent now who the heroes of the hard days are.”

“WE SAW KDP’S POLITICS AND PESHMERGA’S WAR FROM UP CLOSE”

“We have seen the politics of KDP and the Peshmerga’s militancy up close. We understand. So we have no more trust in them. Lately they want to approach the Êzidî people again. But KDP should know that the Êzidî people are not like before, and they won’t be fooled to believe in their plans. They won’t find anybody to oppress and exploit. For this, we must educate and organize ourselves as the Êzidi youth. Shengal’s defense forces have been formed and all youth are joining the YBŞ and YJŞ. We now have unlimited trust in our own power and we will fight until the end for our land. It is a necessity for all youth to join the YBŞ and YJŞ forces so that no new firmans come to pass for our people. All should join, both to avenge our children and women who were massacred, and as a precaution against future threats.

"THEY MASSACRED 1700 FELLOW VILLAGERS OF MINE"

Elîşêr Ebacî, a member of Menkanim tribe from Shengal’s Koço village, stated that Koço is surrounded by four Arab villages and ISIS gangs first enter Koço during their attack on Shengal. Ebacî said that the gangs separated women, men, elderly, and children from one another, and buried all men in a ditch behind the village after killing them. Ebacî said “According to official statements, 700 Êzidî men were killed there, and the rest were taken away. Currently, there are 600 people who were saved from the village and now live in the Newroz camp in Rojava. The rest are either massacred or kidnapped.”

"WE MUST AVENGE ÊZİDÎ WOMEN SOLD IN MARKETS"

Ebacî said that he had moved to Shengal before the massacre, and the last massacre showed who were their friends and who were their enemies. Ebacî said “We saw how those that had promised to protect us fled the city. I joined the YBŞ to avenge the massacred Êzidî people. We developed ourselves so that we prevent future massacres. Currently, Êzidî women are sold in markets across Raqqa, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. We must avenge these attacks and cruelties. ”

"ÊZİDΠPEOPLE ONLY TRUST THE PKK"

Ebacî said that Qasım Şeşo was one of the people that betrayed Êzidî people in the fights against ISIS, and fled the town like the peshmergas did. Ebacî criticized how Şeşo acts as if this had not happened and now calls upon the guerrillas to leave Shengal. Ebacî said "There were 8 to 10 thousand peshmergas near our village and they all ran away when the clashes began. I have no faith in the peshmergas, Êzidî people only trust the PKK. If it were not for PKK guerrillas, our people would have been massacred on Mount Shengal.

"NOBODY CAN DARE TO TELL GUERILLAS TO LEAVE SHENGAL"

Elîşêr Ebacî emphasized that guerrillas should not leave Shengal, especially after the sacrifices they made and the heroic resistance they put up. Ebacî reiterated that guerrillas fought and sacrificed their lives to defend Êzidi people at a time when peshmergas chose to flee, and emphasized that nobody could dare to tell guerillas to leave Shengal at a time when Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan said from prison ‘I apologize to Êzidî people for not having intervened earlier and prevented the massacre.’

Lastly, Ebacî said that guerrillas taught YBŞ and YJŞ, the defense forces of Shengal, how to lead their people in times of difficulty. Ebacî described the calls upon guerrillas to leave Shengal as unacceptable, and reiterated its faith and hope in the PKK.