Eight years have passed since ISIS mercenaries attacked Shengal. Poet Ferhat Merde, who published a poem on the massacre of 3 August 2014, is one of those who witnessed the suffering of the Yazidi people.

Ferhat Merde was in Dirbesiyê before the massacre and, as soon as he heard that the ISIS attacks had started, he tried to reach the people who were fleeing from Shengal. Speaking about the poem he wrote on the Shengal massacre, Merde said: "I have used Shengal's name in many of my poems before, but none of them were as special as the last one. I saw with my own eyes how the people suffered. There were screams of mothers on one side and children on the other. We did not know how to help them. Our people in Rojava mobilized as much as they could, tried to help, but it was not enough. Because thousands of people came. They were devastated. Some did not even have shoes or clothes. This is how they came to Rimêlanê and went to the camp."

Everyone knows who defended Shengal

Merde said that he wrote the poem in one day. He added: "I told the Yazidi people about the poem and we cried together. I wanted to convey to them the message that their sufferance was our sufferance too. Because our Yazidi people say that they have been left alone for many, many years. They think so, but it is not true. Even if a child's finger bleeds, we suffer.

ISIS mercenaries wanted to massacre the Yazidi people and destroy their culture and faith. The Freedom Movement and 12 heroic guerrillas gathered around the Yazidi people and protected them against ISIS mercenaries. They did not allow ISIS to reach the Shengal mountains and created great hope among the Yazidi people. They resisted, they labored, they fell martyrs. Yet there are others who said they were there too. But the Yazidi people know very well who resisted and who helped them. We know that the guerrillas and the YPG saved Shengal. Thanks to hundreds of heroes like Egîd Civiyan and Mam Zeki, Shengal was liberated. History has already written that: "Some rushed to defend Shengal, while others left and fled."

We won’t forget the betrayal

Merde said that many artists in the world serve their people with their songs, books and films, and added that such works should be done for the Yazidi community as well. Emphasizing that Kurdish artists are working on that, but their efforts are insufficient, Merde said: "A history, a people was about to be destroyed. That's why all the works made are incomplete. No one should remain indifferent to the massacre carried out in Shengal and the resistance against that massacre. We must not forget the betrayal in Shengal and display it in our songs and poems.

On every anniversary of the Shengal massacre, artists should tell what happened in our works. This task should not be only a task for the Yazidi people. Even now, there is ongoing resistance against the Iraqi government, the KDP and the Turkish state. I get strength and morale especially from the resistance of the mothers of Shenagl. How they were in the beginning, how powerful and influential they are today. I send my greetings and love to Shengal from here. We will never forget the massacre, our anger is greater than ever. Artists and society need to protect the Yazidi people. No one should forget the massacre. Those responsible for it must be exposed."