By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Human rights activist, Dr. Amy L. Beam, met with Hamad Ajuj, manager of Gohbol village in Shengal, to write this story. This is an excerpt from her forthcoming book, “The Last Yezidi Genocide” I am Hamad Ajuj Murad Barakat. I was born in 1978 in Gohbal. Gohbal is in the…
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Kurdish Peace Activist Ferhat Encu in Prison on Roboski Massacre Anniversary
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Ferhat Encu is a Kurdish political prisoner and human rights activist from Roboski, Turkey. First the government killed his brother, then they killed their mules, then they killed their horses, then they put Ferhat Encu in prison. But the Turkish government will never succeed in killing 20 million Kurds or…
Why Daesh Destroyed Yazidis’ Musical Instruments
Barakat Ali, professional tambur musician, interviewed by Amy L. Beam: Daesh smashed all the tamburs in Shingal as part of their goal to destroy Yazidi culture. Barakat Ali, professional Yazidi tambur musician from Khanasor, Shingal, explained why in an interview with Amy L. Beam. I have been playing the tambur since I was eleven. Now…
Innocent Yezidi “Being Held For Her Own Security” in Kurdistan
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: The Yezidi woman who has been held since October 2014 in prison in Erbil, along with her child born in prison, went before a judge FINALLY this past week, after activist Amy L. Beam posted the story on her Facebook page, and after Erbil Asayish headquarters threatened Beam not to…
Ten Shocking Things I Heard in Shingal
By Dr. Amy L Beam: I visited Shingal four times in April, May and June, 2016. I talked to a lot of people in Sinony, in tents on the mountain, and living in Shingal (Sinjar) city on the south side. I am trying to understand how I can help the displaced Ezidis and also the…
The West’s Immoral Refusal To Rescue Ezidi Women
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: On June 2, 2016, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon addressed the UN Security Council on sexual violence in conflict. He stated “It is estimated that the Ezidi community gave the Islamic State up to $45 million in ransom payments in 2014 alone.” It is irresponsible for the UN Secretary General…
Yazidi Girl Blinded on Her Final Escape from Daesh
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Eighteen-year-old Lamya Haji Bishar was captured by Daesh (ISIS) on August 15, 2014, when they attacked her village of Kocho on the southeast side of Shengal Mountain. She was immediately separated from her mother and held in Tal Afar for 20 months before her escape was organized. Her 12-year-old brother…
Amerikalı Yazar Türkiye’ye Girişi Yasaklandı
Dr. Amy L. Beam: Amerika’da bir söz vardır: “Vereceğin ceza, suça uygun olsun”. Türkiye’de çok uzun süredir bu özdeyişin tam tersi geçerli: Önce ceza geliyor, ardından suçlama. Son yıllarda Türkiye’de gerçekleri söylemek en büyük suçlardan biri haline geldi. Ama cezalandırma her zaman gizli bir şekilde gerçekleştiriliyor: Ya “oturma izninizin süresi doldu” gibi sıradan bir nedene…
Sirnak Saves Yezidi Refugees without Ankara’s Help
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: “I watched Daash (Islamic State terrorists) kill my son. Three men with long swords chopped him across the back of his neck. I have two sons and eight daughters. We were trapped on Sinjar Mountain with no food or water. On the third day, my eldest son, Said Namer (age…
Turkish Government Refuses Humanitarian Aid to Yezidi Refugees
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: Since the Islamic State terrorists invaded Shengal (also known as Sinjar) in Iraq on August 3, an estimated 27,000 Yezidis have fled with the clothes on their backs to the safety of Turkey. At least 21,000 were guided on foot by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to the mountain pass…
Conditions in 11 Yezidi Refugee Camps in Turkey
By Amy L. Beam: Between Sept. 3 – 14, I visited the Yezidi refugees in their camps from Roboski to Diyarbakir. Yezidis fled from Shengal, Iraq, when Islamic State forces attacked them on August 3-4. There was a population between 700,000 and one million Yezidis living in the Shengal region in northeast Iraq on the…
Yezidis Beg for United Nations Help in Diyarbakir
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: On Sept. 15, I got an urgent call from an Yezidi in the Diyarbakir Shengal refugee camp. He reported their situation is dire without enough food, and he begged me to come there and tell the world of their plight. There are 4,500 Yezidis camping under open skies in Fidanlik…
PKK Refused Money from Yezidis Fleeing ISIS
By Amy L Beam: An estimated 25,000 Yezidi refugees fleeing the Islamic State (IS or ISIS) attack of their homeland in Shengal, Iraq, have fled through the mountains to Roboski, Turkey (North Kurdistan). They have been sheltered and fed by Kurds from Roboski north to Diyarbakir and west to Mardin. I have visited ten Yezidi…
Traumatized Ezidis Share Tragic Stories at Hilal School in North Kurdistan
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: I was planning on attending a wedding, not a funeral, this week in the village of Hilal. A Kurdish wedding is a grand, carnival-like, three-day community event with outdoor music, dancing, and eating from morning ’til midnight. But the wedding was cancelled. It would be an affront to flaunt a…
Roboski: How a village of 1200 saved 20,000 Ezidi refugees with help of PKK
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: “If it were not for the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) helping us all along the way, there would not be one Ezidi left alive today.” This was the same litany I heard repeated from dozens of refugees in camps in Roboski, Hilal, and Şirnak, in North Kurdistan (southeast Turkey). When…
