Berfîn Ciwan Amo is a young Yazidi woman who was kidnapped by ISIS during the Sinjar (Şengal) genocide in 2014. She was taken to many different places and left in prison. The only thing Berfîn wanted was to be free from the brutal hands of ISIS, which she eventually managed. She says that “when I escaped, it felt like being reborn into the world”, and finishes her tragic story by saying “From now on, we can defend ourselves”.
On 3 August 2014, ISIS began its attacks on the Sinjar region in northern Iraq. They brutally killed more than 5,000 people, most of them women, children and elderly people, and abducted and enslaved thousands, mostly young women and children.
One of the villages most affected by the genocide was the Kocho (Koço) village: Many Yazidi people from this village were killed and it was almost completely destroyed. The Koco village is located at the southernmost part of Sinjar mountain, 25 kilometres from the centre of Sinjar. Before the genocide, there were 1,700 people living in the village.
When ISIS started its attacks on Sinjar on 3 August, the Islamist groups forced the local population to convert to Islam. They set a deadline of one week for the Koco village, but the people living in Koco didn’t abandon their faith and after one week, ISIS gangs entered the village.
On 15 August 2014, ISIS surrounded the village and caused a massacre, killing at least 700 inhabitants and kidnapping hundreds. Many mass graves are still being discovered around the village today.
Ten years have passed since the genocide, but the wounds of the people of Koco have still not healed. They are waiting for mass graves to be opened and for women and children to be freed from the hands of ISIS and return to the village.
Berfîn Ciwan Amo from the Koco village fled from the village in 2014 when they heard that the Islamist gangs of ISIS were approaching the village. She and her family were captured at the Qine village. This is where her story begins.
Berfîn’s family lived in Koco village before the genocide. Like any other family, they earned their living. Life in the villages was normal, the children played in the streets, the mothers baked bread in their ovens, the neighbours visited their neighbours and discussed their daily struggles.
But all of this changed in an instant when ISIS started attacking Sinjar. The atmosphere in the village changed, and fear and doubt crept into the hearts of the inhabitants of Koco. Berfîn, who was 16 years old at that time, recounts these moments: “On 3 August 2014, we had heard that they had taken over Mosul and Tal Afar and were on their way to Sinjar. On the same day, my family and other people from the village fled from the village at 7 in the morning and went to Qine village. That’s where ISIS captured all of us. They separated men and women and took all of our things, including our phones, away from us. They threw us into a room and closed the door. They also drew other Yazidi people they had captured in the region into this room. Then they killed 50 men, including our relatives.”
Transferred to an ISIS prison
After being kidnapped, Berfîn continues, she and other women and children were loaded onto a vehicle and transferred to Tal Afar in the Mosul district. She recounts that they were taken from village to village and from town to town, often in inhumane conditions. “They took us to a madrasa where we stayed together with thousands of women and children. We were left without water or bread in the sun for days. Life was very harsh and difficult there. After a coalition aircraft bombed the surrounding area, we were taken and transferred to Badush prison. There too, there was neither food nor drink, but at least we were all together. I was 16 years old at the time, and aside from the Yazidis, no one else was among the captives. I saw that they were all Yazidis.”
Berfin continues by explaining how ISIS fighters would come daily and take some of the captives, rarely bringing them back. Berfin explains that she was also sometimes taken outside, where she saw some other captives and witnessed their very dire situations, recounting, “Everyone had been harassed or raped; they were living in very harsh conditions. We all tried to save ourselves, but they didn’t give any of us a chance.”
Berfin freed herself from the ISIS fighters
Berfin was held captive by ISIS fighters in Mosul for another two years, but with great fortune, she found a way to escape and freed herself. Berfin recounts her escape: “I was a captive from 3 August until 19 June 2016 in Mosul. I managed to get hold of a phone. I called my brother and he gave me the address of a house. I went to that house. There was a woman there, and I stayed with her. A car came from Sinjar, and I returned with it. The driver was given $180 to take me back to Sinjar. I was only able to free myself. There was no way I could save anyone else.”
Sadly, not all captives held by ISIS fighters had as much luck as young Berfin, and her escape after two years in captivity was almost a miracle. Berfin expresses her feelings: “For me, it was a great joy and relief to free myself. When we were captives, we didn’t believe we would be liberated. We saw a lot of pain and suffering. When I was freed, it felt like being reborn into the world. My family also gave me a great value. They didn’t allow me to dwell on the fact that I was a captive and make myself miserable or feel lesser. Their support gave me lots of strength.”
‘I wish for Yazidi unity and the return of all captives’
Above all, Berfin sees the establishment of unity among Yazidis as important and says: “I want unity among Yazidis. People shouldn’t only think of themselves, as they did before. If we are all united, it will be the best for the future of Yazidis.”
Berfin also describes her feelings for those still held captive by ISIS: “I know everyone wants to return, but they don’t have that chance. My request is that all captives be freed and reunited with their families as soon as possible. And the last thing I want to say is that no one should go through what I did.”
Berfin emphasised the situation of Yazidi women today, pointing out that many positive changes have occurred, and concluded with these words: “When you look at Yazidi women before and after the genocide, you see many changes. Before the genocide, we didn’t know many things. But now Yazidi women have learned a lot and have become more aware, and this is all progress. Hopefully, there will never be another genocide against us. But if there is, we will be able to protect ourselves.”
