Yezidis Beg for United Nations Help in Diyarbakir

By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D:

Nayf Elias, a university engineering student, leads Beam on camp tour.

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 Park, on the road to Mardin.  They fled Shengal (also called Sinjar) in northwest Iraq (South Kurdistan) on August 3 and 4 when the Islamic State gangs attacked, killed, and kidnapped many of their family members.  They arrived without passports or entry visas through the mountain pass to Roboski, Turkey (North Kurdistan).

After sleeping and eating in Roboski school, they were transferred by bus to Sirnak camp, then to Diyarbakir camp.   Since Sept. 3 I have visited 12 of the camps for Yezidis fleeing Shengal to Turkey.   Most Yezidis expressed the desire to get transferred to the Diyarbakir camp because Diyarbakir is a large city with a Kurdish population.  They believed they would receive maximum support in Diyarbakir from Kurds in their quest to relocate to Europe or elsewhere in the world.

They were shocked to be sent to a camp 20 km south of the city in the middle of miles of vacant land.  The camp is enclosed by a wire fence and two security guards are posted at the entrance.  No one can leave.  No one can enter.

More than half the Shengal Yezidis in Diyarbakir Fidanlik camp are children

This woman (right) has only a mat for herself and her baby.

By contrast, at the Batman Yezidi camp I was warmly welcomed by the volunteers, DBP party leaders, and Belediyesi (city hall) staff.  Though over-crowded in an old government building, Yezidis are cared for with kindness and sympathy.   The Batman Belediyesi person who is managing the restoration of houses in 20 old Yezidi villages to house the refugees took me on a tour of several villages in the country-side.  He was rightly proud of his efforts.

I was similarly warmly welcomed in the Mardin Yezidi camp where the opening of the brand new Mardin bus terminal has been delayed in order to house 900 Yezidis.  Of all the Yezidi camps in Turkey, Mardin stands out as a model for all of the world.

So it was with some shock that I encountered the opposite treatment in Diyarbakir.  I was first directed to the Diyarbakir Belediyesi in the city center.  It is named “Yeni Şehir”.  When I arrived at 6 PM, Sept. 12, and asked where the Yezidi camp was, a staff person told me “Here, in this building.  This is Yeni Şehir.”  When I demurred that there were no people there, she took me to a small cafeteria in the building that seats about 30 people and explained that this is where they feed them.  It was empty and the staff was going home.

She took me outside to the beautiful park area and pointed out several small groups of Kurdish families sitting under the trees on their blankets.  “See, the Yezidis are here,” she tried to convince me.

I insisted there was a camp of 5,000 Yezidis,  Reluctantly she told me it was 20 km south of the city at Fidanlik Forrest.  She said they sleep there at night.  They named it Karakopru Kampi (or Karares in Kurdish).  She told me to return at 9 AM to meet the Belediyesi staff and see the camp.  I puzzled over how they could bus 5,000 people back and forth each day.  After a long discussion, she told me how to find Fidanlik park on the road to Mardin.  It was dark so I gave up for the night.

When I arrived the next day at Fidanlik Park at 3:30 PM, the Diyarbakir Belediyesi security guards stopped me in my car at the entrance gate on the east side of the 4-lane highway.  They refused to let me get out of my car, walk, photograph, or talk to any Yezidis.  I politely sat in my car refusing to leave and asking to speak to the camp manager.  Over the phone, the camp manager refused to see me.  During the first ten minutes another four cars arrived and were refused entrance.  They were more obedient than I  and backed out onto the highway and left.

A crowd of Yezidis began to form and kept growing until there were 200 people watching.   By now the camp manager showed up and invited me to get out of my car and sit at the folding table with him.  Numerous people from the Belediyesi and DPB party showed up in their cars demanding to know who I am.

I am completely transparent and have no trouble explaining I am a friend of Kurds and Yezidis.  I am not a professional journalist working for any news agency.  I am not paid by anyone.  It is disappointing that in today’s world of massacres, genocides, and chaos that it is considered suspicious behavior for someone to show up unless he or she is being paid.

At this point several hundred Yezidis surged onto the highway and blocked traffic for ten minutes.  The camp manager and security guards were surrounded in a sea of people and had to abandoned their efforts to prevent me from speaking to the camp residents.  The camp manager said, “All these people are here for you.  They want to talk to you.”  He couldn’t conceal his grin.  At last he gave me permission to walk through the camp, photograph and talk to anyone.

I did that for about 45 minutes until a dozen armed soldiers surrounded me and escorted me to the front of the camp where I was shocked to see approximately 50 Jandarma (Army) armed soldiers lined up facing the crowd of Yezidis.  Their tanks were behind them.

Diyarbakir Belediyesi security guards block Beam from entering camp

Yezidis block traffic in protest to be allowed to speak with Beam

Amy Beam is surrounded by Yezidis wanting to talk to her

The Jandarma showed up with guns and tanks at 5 PM

The Jandarma commander, from Çincar, spoke perfect English.  I said, “Most of these people had family members killed in Shengal by ISIS.  You are terrorizing them again by pointing guns at them.  How can you do this?”  I would not let up for ten minutes.  He invited me to sit at the table while they telephoned all over heaven and earth for an hour to verify that I am who I say I am.   I promote tourism in eastern Turkey and support Kurdish human rights.  No one pays me to be a friend of Kurds or Yezidis.

He said he would allow me to walk back into the camp and talk to anyone I wanted for about 15 minutes, but first he had to get approval from the Belediyesi officials.  They refused and told me to go get permission from the Governor of Diyarbakir.  The Jandarma commander kindly asked me if I would leave so that they could leave.

Cognitive dissonance is a term to describe the distressing emotional impact when a person is presented with facts that challenge one’s core beliefs.   I have devoted my efforts to supporting the Kurdish movement for full human rights in Turkey; that includes supporting the DBP Kurdish party (formerly the BDP), so I was jarred by the position of the Kurdish-run Belediyesi staff.  Why does the Diyarbakir Belediyesi, in the city referred to as the “Kurdish capitol”,  want to block outsiders from seeing the inside of their camp or talking to the 4,500 Yezidis who want to tell their stories to the world?

Yezidis sleep under the sky with no protection from rain or cold

Four faucets provide all drinking water and washing facilities for 4,500 people

There is not enough food for everyone.

They are sleeping under the trees without tents.  What will they do if it rains?  What will they do when winter arrives?  They have two toilets and four outdoor faucets for washing and drinking water.  Most people are sick from the water.  When food is delivered on styrofoam plates, there are not enough meals for everyone.  Most of the camp residents are children, including infants.  No one is allowed to leave in order to appeal for help or asylum.

Yezidis pleaded with me to send a U.N. representative to them and to tell the world they are there.  According to dozens of camp residents, no one has come to take a list of all the people there.  No NGOs, U.N., international organizations, nor government state or local officials have come to talk to any of them.

No one in that camp that I spoke with wants to return to Shengal.  Many families left dead family members in their houses when they fled.  They have heard that dogs ate the flesh of the dead bodies.  Everything of value was stolen from their empty houses.  Many houses have been burned.  Everyone in this camp is badly traumatized from the Islamic State attack. I witnessed a large group of women and children wailing and weeping over their losses.

What is the agenda of the local Belediyesi and Kurdish DBP Party for the Yezidis?  If the camp is over-crowded and the Belediyesi is overwhelmed, it is understandable.  It is not a shame to ask for federal and international aid.  There has been no financial assistance from Ankara or international organizations.  The Yezidis’ situation is now at a crisis stage and needs immediate attention before the weather turns cold.  Rather than hide the dangerous situation, the Diyarbakir Belediyesi should be crying out for international aid in addition to Kurdish donations.

To conceal the Diyarbakir Yezidi camp from public view and assert that Yezidis will go back to Shengal is misguided.  The Yezidis have lost their homes, possessions, jobs, businesses, cars, and money.  Worst of all they lost their loved ones, their trust in their government, and their sense of security.  They cannot go back regardless of whether the ‘Islamic State’ is pushed back or destroyed.  For these Yezidis there is no such thing as ever feeling safe again in Shengal.

Dr. Amy L. Beam promotes tourism in eastern Turkey at Mount Ararat Trek and writes in support of Kurdish human rights.  She has been following the Yezidis from Roboski border north.  Follow her on Twitter @amybeam or email her at amybeam@yahoo.com. 

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