NEWS CENTER - Zîwêr Şêxo, who came to the aid of the Yazidis in the ISIS massacre defined as 74th Edict by the Yazidis and sent hundreds of people to Northern and Eastern Syria, said, "They didn't know us and they asked, 'Are you the PKK?' They only believed in the PKK. We introduced ourselves as the PKK."

 

Thousands of people were killed and many people, including children and women, were taken prisoners in the attack carried out by ISIS on August 3, 2014 in Shengal which is described as the "74th Edict", a reference to the 74 massacres the Yazidis were subjected to. Tens of thousands of Yazidis who were forced to migrate during the massacre, which is described as "genocide" by many countries, were able to hold on to life through the corridor opened by an HPG group. One of those who came to the aid of the Yazidis after the life corridor was opened was Zîwer Şêxo, a member of the Constitutional Assembly of the Cizîre Canton of Northern and Eastern Syria. Şexo enabled hundreds of Yazidis to safely pass through Northern and Eastern Syria in the corridor opened with the support of YPG and YPJ members. Şêxo told the Mesopotamia Agency (MA) what happened at that time.

 

THE SPEECH THAT EFFECTED ŞÊXO DEEPLY

 

Stating that he saw an elderly Yazidi man speaking on the Tv and he was very impressed by it which later caused him to run to their aid, Şêxo said, "In his speech, he said that children, the elderly and women went to Mount Shengal but no one was helping them. He said that if no one will run to their help they will be held to account. It was very meaningful to me. I wanted to do something. I met with oyur friends in Qamishlo with my brother."

 

Pointing out that he set out to fulfill his humanitarian duty, Şêxo said, "The number of Shengalese coming to Rojava has increased every day. Me and my brother went to help Heyva Sor. There were people who walked nonstop for two days and had wounds on their feet.  The doctor was showing us how to treat them and we were dressing their wounds. There was an old Yazidî among those who injured his foot. While I was going to treat his foot, he said, 'Don't inject me with anything. No one has ever injected me with anything so far, it can kill me.' This thing he sad effected me deeply."

 

'THEY WERE STUCK IN A PLACE WHERE THEY KNEW NOTHING ABOUT'

 

Stating that their commander told them that a group will go to Shengal and he volunteered, Şêxo said: "We met hundreds of people running for their lives on our way. YPG and YPJ opened up a life corridor a few days before that. It was night when we reached Shengal. What I saw when I went there was far more tragic. A whole lot of people were stuck in a place where they knew nothing about. People were running barefoot, trying to save their lives. HPG had a meeting there and said the more people got out the better, that they didn't know where ISIS will attack but they knew ISIS had the weapons of the Iraqi Army. Then we contacted Rojava. We told them send all the vehicles they have and the corridor was opened. They sent the vehicles. We took everyone and took them to Rojava." 

 

'THEY ONLY BELIEVED IN THE PKK'

 

Stating that he took responsibility for 50 vehicles, Şêxo continued: "All of those vehicles were packed. There were more than a thousand people in the vehicles. We went back and forth. A person helping his people at a hard time is a very honourable thing. However I want to erase some of these memories from my mind. Some mothers were holding their dead babies. They didn't believe their babies were dead. We saw horrible things. When we went to Mount Shengal everyone asked who we were. They asked, "Are you the PKK?". They only believed in the PKK. So we introduced ourselves as the PKK. Then they came to trust us. They were afraid of getting on those vehicles."

 

'KDP IS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY LIFE THAT WAS LOST THERE'

 

Underlining that he will never forget those days, Şêxo told that the KDP is responsible for every life that was lost there. Şêxo said: "They had no faith in the government of the Federated Kurdistan Region. I don't think any government in history did something like this to its own people. They were all saying that Barzani turned against them. The youth that came injured and with guns in their hands, laid gave their arms to us and said they didn't need it anymore. We saw that they wore uniforms and took up arms when they healed. It gave me hope. Resistance was growing out of submission. First YBŞ and YJŞ groups consisted of these people."

 

'THEY ARE DOING THE SAME THING AGAIN INSTEAD OF APOLOGISING' 

 

Stating that the genoicide was prevented with the intervention of the HPG and YPG, Şêxo said: "Instead of feeling ashamed and apologising for the things they had done, KDP is doing the same thing again. Mesut Barzani must be held to account before a judge. The Peshmherga is responsible for this massacre. They should have said 'I am not worthy of protecting these peoples' and resigned. They paved the way for 5 thousand Yazidi women to fall into the hands of ISIS. No one has been held to account for that yet. Because this was planned. "