With over 40 years of struggle, Mam Zeki Şengali played a crucial role in the Kurdish people’s fight for the freedom of Kurdistan and in achieving significant progress for Kurdish liberation.
Ismail Özden, also known as Mam Zeki Şengali or simply Mam (Uncle) Zeki, a member of the leadership council of Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) and a coordinator for the Yazidi community, was assassinated on 15 August 2018, after decades of struggle in Europe, in the mountains of Kurdistan and finally in Sinjar, in an attack by Turkish planes in the Shilo Valley, as he was returning from a ceremony to commemorate the Yazidi massacre in Kocho, south of Sinjar.
Mam Zeki was a Yazidi Kurd born in 1952 in the village of Şimzê, in Beşiri (Qubîn) district, Batman, Turkey. He went to live in Germany in 1969. In 1978, he became involved with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and quickly became an activist. In 1981, he founded the Kurdistan Patriotic Workers’ Association in Germany. In 1985 he visited PKK training camps in the Kurdish mountains, where he met the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan before returning to Germany. His political activities led to him being imprisoned by the German authorities in 1990. Tragically, in 1992, his son Sîpan lost his life in Mardin during a conflict with Turkish state forces.
In 1999, following the Öcalan’s arrest, Mam Zeki returned to the mountains of Kurdistan. In 2004, he played a pivotal role in establishing the Yazidi Democratic Community (TEVDA). Alongside his activism, Mam Zeki focused on diplomacy, serving as a liaison officer for the PKK in the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) and then as spokesman for the KCK.
After the ISIS attack and massacre, known to the Yazidis as the 73rd ferman, in their homeland of Sinjar (Şengal) in 2014, Mam Zeki went to Sinjar, where he played a vital role in confronting ISIS forces and protecting the Yazidi people.
In 2015, he worked as the backbone to establishing the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ). Following the liberation of Sinjar, Mam Zeki laid the foundation for the Sinjar Autonomous Administration on 20 August 2017, and remained closely connected with it until his assassination by the Turkish state.
The last steps of Mam Zeki’s struggle were in Sinjar. During the last four years of his life, he dedicated himself to alleviating the suffering and trauma of the Yazidi community. Although he survived several assassination attempts orchestrated by the Turkish state, he ultimately lost his life in Shilo (Şilo) to a Turkish airstrike, shortly after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited Turkey.
