Sisters in YPJ ranks: We turned the tragedy into struggle ANF - DERİK 17.08.2014 15:00:30 A large number of people from the village of Girsor took refugee in Sinjar Mountain when ISIS gangs attacked and occupied the Kurdish Yezidi town Sinjar on 3 August. Laleşin and Evin who also come from the Girsor village and found refugee in Rojava joined the ranks of West Kurdistans YPJ (Womens Protection Units) after crossing into Rojava thanks to the corridor opened by HPG guerrillas and YPG fighters after seven days without water and food in the mountains. Two young sisters, Laleşin and Evin, say they are not afraid any more, after joining the YPJ forces, and call on Yezidi women not to allow the tragedy they are facing to become their destiny. 20 year old Laleşin told the followings about the difficulties they faced on Sinjar Mountain; We fled to the Sinjar Mountain when ISIS attacked. During the one week we remained there, we were filling the tops of water bottles we brought with water and drinking them one by one to be able to survive the scorching heat. In this way we could at least wet our throat. We would have died otherwise. Small children and elder couldnt endure it though. People stranded on the mountains survived that week thanks to fruit trees, eating the leaves of fig trees and others. This prevented the death of more people. We distributed everyone a slice from the bread we were able to take with us while fleeing. We couldnt drink the air-dropped water either, as the bottles were all bursting when dropped from the helicopter. We could hardly survive the seven days there. Then speaks her sister Evin (19) who is one year younger than her; My mothers blood pressure went up in the scorching heat. We werent expecting her to survive when HPG fighters came to rescue us. They took her from there and rushed her to hospital. Laleşin and Evin, along with four other young women from Sinjar, joined YPJ forces in Rojava where they managed to reach following a challenging journey. We feel stronger now, says Laleşin who says their participation in YPJ also sets an example to all other Yezidi women. She adds the followings; My mother herself handed us over to our comrades when we joined the YPJ. This is a first in the Yezidi community among whom the participation of women in such organizations is not looked favourably on. However, my family also understood that this was the way to defend our honour and lands and handed us over to YPJ fighters in order that we also fight like other woman guerrillas. We are very happy here and feel much stronger. We are here today because we didnt forget the days we have lived, says Evin as to the reason why they joined the ranks of resistance. She continues by telling about a striking event they witnessed while on Sinjar Mountain; We, the women, were sleeping alternately in the evenings while men kept guard in front of the mountain. We had already made a decision to take each other by the hand and to jump off the cliff if ISIS happened to attack us. Some did this. Around 40 women held each others hand and jumped off the cliff in order not to be captured by ISIS. Living means nothing to us if we dont have a honorable life. Evin remarked that they choose the most honorable way by joining the YPJ, and called on all Yezidi women to take part in the struggle. We as two sisters joined the YPJ to take the revenge of our murdered brother, thousands of massacred Yezidis and the kidnapped Yezidi women. We are being trained now and I am counting the days to go to Sinjar and to fight against ISIS. Evin called on all Yezidi women and men to join forces against ISIS gangs, and vowed to enhance the resistance against massacres targeting their people
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 10:20:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015