As we commemorate the anniversary of the ISIS massacre against the Yazidi community in 2014, it is seen that the Yazidi people are trying to draw important conclusions from the last massacre by educating themselves.

It is vital for us to understand the last massacre and to learn the necessary lessons by educating ourselves. Why was the massacre carried out and who planned it? Who set ISIS loose on us? By whom and by what means and methods does the massacre continue to be carried out today? What were our mistakes and failures that paved the way for the massacre? Who prevented the massacre from being completed, and how will we avoid further massacres? These are the fundamental questions that Yazidi society is supposed to ask and find the correct answers to. We should tackle these questions in a plain way, because they are a matter of life or death for us.

MASSACRE CONTINUES

We will try to briefly answer three basic questions rather than looking for answers one by one, which must still be done. First, the massacre which started in 2014 is still continuing. The massacre that ISIS failed to complete is being completed by the treacherous-collaborator KDP and the genocidal Turkish state through an unprecedented special war. In fact, the KDP and the genocidal Turkish state attempted to destroy the Yazidi community through the atrocities of ISIS. When the PKK guerrillas intervened and stopped the massacre, the KDP and the colonialist Turkish state intervened openly and have been waging a war to destroy the Yazidi community since.

OCTOBER 9, POLITICAL PRETEXT OF MASSACRE

The KDP and the Turkish state have constantly targeted the leaders of the Yazidi community, including Mam Zeki and Martyr Azad, and attacked every aspect of social life, hitting the Sikeniyê Hospital, the Xanesor (Khanasor) and Sinûnê people's assemblies. Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed in these attacks. Furthermore, the October 9 Agreement, which was hammered out by the KDP and the Turkish state, including the al-Kadhimi government, signified that the massacre was to be maintained and legitimized under the cover of a political agreement.

Eight years have passed since the last massacre, yet no serious and fair trial has been launched against those responsible, neither in Iraq nor in South Kurdistan, or by the international community. No country seems to be willing to recognize the existence of the Yazidi people and their political-social-cultural rights. On the contrary, those who fight for their rights are targeted. Also, the “white genocide” against the Yazidi community is still a current issue. All these facts show us how the massacre against the Yazidis is continuing. The Yazidi community should know that the attacks go on through various methods and keep this in their mind.

SELF-GOVERNMENT AND SELF-DEFENSE ARE NECESSARY

The second question: Who stopped the massacre, and how? As it is known, it was possible to protect Shengal from ISIS only when the PKK guerrillas came to help our people and tried to save us from the massacre and formed our self-defence by educating and organizing our society. Today, if we organize in all social spheres and strengthen our will, we can defend ourselves against all kinds of attacks. Then this is what we learnt from the massacre; if we remain uneducated, unorganized and defenceless, they will subject us to further massacres. The way to avoid massacres and break the forces behind them is to develop our self-government and self-defence as a society.

BUILDING DEMOCRATIC AUTONOMY

The third question is this:  What is the way to avoid massacres once and for all, to attain our rights and freedoms as a society and how can we protect our existence and ensure our freedom? We must realize this: we can avoid further massacres by implementing the line of democratic nation and democratic autonomy program developed by Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan for all peoples. There is no solution other than that. Our most correct response to massacres would be to continue to make efforts to build democratic autonomy and self-defence with all its dimensions as the Yazidi community. This is the most correct way to commemorate the massacre.