Freedom and Democracy Party of Êzidîs (PADÊ, Partiya Azadi û Demokrasiya Êzidiyan) Chairman Qehtan Elî spoke to ANF about the agenda of Shengal’s Constituent Assembly which held its second congress between 30th and 31st May and changed its name into Democratic Autonomy Assembly of Shengal.

Elî stated that: “Many topics were raised in the two days of the congress, among which the most discussed ones have been Shengal’s autonomy and defense issues. We can say that we have come to good conclusions about how to achieve the realization of these.”

CALL TO THE ÊZIDÎS THAT JOINED HASHD AL-SHAABÎ

Elî drew attention to Êzidî youths who joined the Hashd al-Shaabî recently, saying: “Our Êzidî community and youth are joining the ranks of Hashd al-Shaabî. That is unfortunately a very sad situation because instead of joining them they should take part in their own assembly and secure their autonomy.”

Emphasizing that the youth's participation into the ranks of Hashd al-Shaabî is unacceptable, Elî called on these youths to “Come and join the ranks of Êzidxan's defense units YBŞ/YJŞ instead. Serve your own defense and protect your community from all kinds of dangers. If we do not protect ourselves today, nobody else will protect or defend us. We faced this truth with the massacre in 2014. We witnessed ourselves what happened to our people, the women, children, girls and elders. When the ISIS gangs attacked us, weren't there any military forces here to protect us? They all fled and left us alone. We will face more massacres in future unless we found our autonomy and self-administration. For that reason, the Êzidî community and especially the youths should participate in works and efforts four our land in all aspects.”

Elî remarked that all the participants were plased with the organisation of the congress, adding: “This is the first time all our Êzidî people from Rojava to Europe participated in a congress which by itself became a great source of morale to our people. With this high attendance the congress was held and our assembly founded.”

“NOBODY PROTECTED THE ÊZIDÎS EXCEPT FOR THE GUERILLAS AND YBŞ/YJŞ”

PADÊ chairman Qehtan Elî continued his evaluation on Shengal’s autonomy as follows: ”As it is today, our people wish to live autonomously, with no dependence on other forces. When the gangs attacked Shengal, nobody defended the people except for the guerillas and those who reached the mountains and later joined the Êzidxan forces, the YBŞ/YJŞ. It is thanks to them that we have founded our assembly and talk about Shengal’s autonomy in today's congress.”

Elî expressed the hope for the second congress of the Constituent Assembly to become ultimately the spark for a very soon realization of Shengal’s autonomy and that independence would not be only for the Êzidî people living in Shengal but also all those around the world.

Qehtan Elî called on all the Êzidîs around the world to join Shengal’s Democratic Autonomy Assembly and Êzidxan's Defense Force YBŞ/YJŞ, and to organize themselves to declare their autonomy to the world and Iraq.