Turkey’s factions force Afrin Yazidis to convert to Islam.
A painful reality experienced by the people of northern Syria in the areas occupied by Turkey, where people of all affiliations suffer from persecution and violations practised by groups loyal to Turkey, and the Yazidi Kurds have had a share of these violations.
Unremitting efforts are being followed by the Turkish occupation and the factions loyal to it to force the people of 22 Yazidi villages in Afrin to change their religion, in addition to preventing those who adhere to their beliefs from practising their religious rituals and seeking to change the identity of the region by destroying their shrines and displacing them from their villages.
Following in the footsteps of those who emigrated from Afrin, 56-year-old Awash Jaafar and her family were displaced from Afrin to escape the practices followed against them, Awash says that the factions arrested her and nine Yazidi women and girls and took them to Marea prison and began a series of flimsy accusations.
Awash said she was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture and her health condition deteriorated as a result, and she was released after paying a large ransom after more than five months, while the fate of the other detainees is still unknown.
“They threatened and tortured us, either death or conversion to Islam,” Awash said.
“I want our voice to reach the world and ask the influential countries to stop the crimes committed against us and end the Turkish occupation of Afrin,” Awash concluded.
What is happening in Afrin?
Hassan Hasko, 55, a pseudonym for a Yazidi from the village of Kemar, said, “They are living in tragic conditions as a result of practices and violations in the city.”
He pointed out that since the beginning of its occupation of the city, Turkey has destroyed the Yazidi shrines, the statue of Zoroaster, and the dome of Lalish, they are building mosques and centres for memorizing the Koran in their place, and their tombstones have been removed to obliterate the existence of this religion in the northern countryside of Aleppo.
Hasko warned of the consequences and safety of the Yazidi minority in the region to a real danger that repeats the scenario practised by ISIS against them.
There are more than 19 Yazidi shrines in the city of Afrin, most of which were destroyed by the Turkish occupation and dug up their contents, such as the shrine of Barsa Khatun, Sheikh Hamid, Sheikh Gharib, Gil Khanna, Malak Adi, Sheikh Junaid, Hawker, Sheikh Barakat, Sheikh Ali, Sheikh Rikab, Sharaf Din, Bella Manan, Bir Jafir, Jundi’s Tower, Hajari Visit, Sheikh Abdul Qadir, Sheikh Kras, Visit Abu Kaaba, Sheikh Qassab.
For her part, Guli Chawish explained that Turkey and the mercenary factions loyal to it are carrying out acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Yazidis in the Afrin region, and the targeting extends to all aspects of Yazidi culture in the region.
Guli pointed out that mercenary factions impose Islamic dress that is far from the customs and culture of Yazidis on women and girls, according to her testimony.
On March 31, a video of two citizens named Sheikh Arif and Haidar Arif pronouncing the two shahada was circulated on social media by a sheikh affiliated with the so-called “Waqf” association in the Yazidi village of Qaibar in the Sharran district.
In the face of this reality, the Yazidi presence in Afrin is threatened with the threat of annihilation, especially with the increase in the pace of their migration and the significant decrease in their numbers, according to Suleiman Jaafar, a member of the Yazidi Union, out of 25,000 Yazidis who used to live in 22 villages, only 3,000 remain today!
Lina Al-Ali – Aleppo
