The spokesperson for the Yazidi Women’s Union (Yekîtiya Jinên Êzîdî, or YJÊ) in northeast Syria said that the safest place for ethnic minorities in Syria is the region of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). She assessed the flight of Yazidis from the Shahba (Şehba) region following the advances of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) towards Shahba and Tel Rifaat (Til Rifat) in late November 2024.
Hediya Semo, spokesperson of the Yezidi women’s Union tells @Nujinha_english why the region of North and East Syria is the safest place for all ethnic and religious groups.
the whole article here:https://t.co/ofbkd7IAIZ pic.twitter.com/XNj98NvFvy
— Kongra Star Women’s Movement Rojava (@starrcongress) January 2, 2025
In an interview with the Jinha news agency, Hediya Shemo, spokeswoman for the YJÊ, assessed the history of the Yazidi people, who have been massacred and forced to leave their land three times in the last 10 years. The largest community of Yazidis is located in Sinjar (Şengal), Iraq, but Yazidis are also present in Syria and Turkey. Sinjar was attacked by ISIS in 2014, thousands of Yazidi women were massacred or abused, and more than 5,000 Yazidi women were captured. After the ISIS genocide, the Yazidi people found refuge in northeast Syria.
In 2018 and 2019, the Turkish occupation of Ras al-Ayn (Serê Kaniyê) and Afrin (Efrinê), home to many ethnic and religious minorities and 22 Yazidi villages, led to the displacement of thousands more Yazidis towards Shahba and Tel Rifaat. In late November, the new wave of attacks by SNA mercenaries again displaced people and exposed them to violence and abuse. Fleeing people found refuge in Raqqa (Reqa), Tabqa and Qamishli (Qamişlo) in the AANES region.
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Shemo concluded by reflecting on the future of Syria. “According to reports, the new [Syrian] government rejects the role of women and will exclude women from all facets of life, including politics, the military and social life,” she said. “As Yazidi, Armenian, Syriac, Chaldean, Arab, Kurdish and Circassian women, we should unite and stand in solidarity with each other and build a free Syria together,” she concluded.
