The Shengal Resistance Units Command (YBŞ) has released a statement in memory of Mam Beşîr (Hasan Dutar). The Yazidi activist succumbed to a heart attack in Shengal on December 14. "We are in a historically significant and difficult time when Shengal needs leaders like Mam Beşîr. It is at this time that the news of Mam Beşîr's death reached us on December 14. We commemorate this great revolutionary and all the martyrs of the liberation struggle," the statement said.

YBŞ noted that Mam Beşîr had worked to expand the Yazidi Self-Defense Forces until the last moment of his life, adding; "As YBŞ and YJŞ, we are deeply grateful to Mam Beşîr for this. We promise that we will realize his dream of a free Êzîdxan (Yazidi land). We are students of Mam Zekî and Mam Beşîr and will follow in their footsteps. Mam Beşîr's work, his love for his country, his strength of will and his resistance are for us the struggle for a free life. If there is a life worth living, it is a free life in union with the struggle and the memory of the fallen."

The YBŞ Command extended their condolences to Abdullah Öcalan, Mam Beşîr's family, the patriotic people of Kurdistan and all friends.

Memorial events in Germany

Commemorative events were held in Germany on Tuesday, but the number of participants was limited due to the pandemic. Family members of Mam Beşîr also took part in a commemoration in Duisburg; he was the father of six children. Other events were held in Aurich, Berlin and Saarbrücken.

Funeral on Thursday

Mam Beşîr will be laid to rest in Shengal on Thursday. The body will be transferred by convoy from Khanasor (Xanesor) to the Şehîd Dilgeş and Berxwedan Cemetery of Martyrs where a large mourning ceremony is set to take place tomorrow. In accordance with Yazidi tradition, mourners will be received for five days after the burial in a tent set up for this purpose at the cemetery.