Shengal Resistance Units (Yekîneyên Berxwedana Şengalê - YBŞ) Commander Dijwar Feqîr spoke to the ANF on the Mosul operation, Hashd Al-Shaabî’s operations in the south of Shengal and the Turkish state’s and KDP’s attacks on Shengal. Feqîr said the KDP doesn’t take any steps to save the southern villages of Shengal from ISIS, and prevents them from taking steps, and claimed that the Êzidîs who left the KDP to join Hashd Al-Shaabî did so “because they have no more faith in the KDP to save their villages.”

Feqîr also spoke on the Turkish state’s and the KDP’s attack plans on Shengal, said the Kurdish people need to be aware of the Turkish state’s and the KDP’s plans, and added: “We as the Êzidîs will be here and we will fight whoever comes at us. Everybody should know that in the attacks on Khanasor, we didn’t want to fight. If we had retaliated against the attacks in Khanasor, the war would extend beyond Khanasor and spread throughout four parts of Kurdistan, which we don’t want as the Êzidîs.”

* The Mosul operation is now drawing to a close. At the beginning of the operation, it was widely discussed who would partake in it and how they would do that. Now, after the city is taken, how should the administration be, in your opinion?

Those who brought ISIS to Mosul and settled them in wanted to hold on to the city in the post-ISIS period as well. At that point, the Turkish state wanted to be effective in there with some groups they organized, wanted to carry out politics and trade over them. Like Al Qaeda gave way to ISIS, they wanted to create a new ISIS after ISIS was gone, and they wanted to do it officially. Some clans acting with Turkey wanted to form an administration there and to have it accepted. Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan had said, “Even if we don’t join the operation ourselves, we will partake in it by other means.” When the Turkish soldiers were not directly allowed to join the operation, they attempted a different way.

WHAT KIND OF ADMINISTRATION WILL THERE BE IN MOSUL?

The operation is drawing to a close. In a couple of days, it is possible that the Mosul city center will be completely under control. But then, there is the issue of how the city will be governed afterwards. What kind of an administration will be formed so Mosul won’t go through the same issues as 2014, or in the past? This is important. What matters here is whether all ethnicities, faiths and sects will come together and form a system based on democratic values or not. Forming a system where they will take on their own self defense is also important. But what it seems now is, there are a few new parties being formed. One of them, for instance, is the party founded by Nuceyfi (former Mosul Governor Esil Nuceyfi), who handed Mosul over to ISIS and is known for his ties with Turkey. They are trying to gain influence in the post-ISIS period. This is a sign that they will continue with the old ways. If that is so, that means Mosul will be left open to problems. There needs to be an administration that includes everybody, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Syriacs, Sunnis, Shiis, Feylîs, Êzidîs, Christians. All who migrated should be able to return, the conditions for this must be met. Meanwhile, the people who handed Mosul over to ISIS and caused so much pain for the peoples who live here shouldn’t be appointed as administrators again.

* Taking Mosul will determine the fate of Tal Afar, Hawîja and other places held by ISIS as well. At that point, what effect will taking Mosul have on parts of Shengal held by ISIS?

As the end draws near in Mosul, southern villages of Shengal are also taken from ISIS. We as the YBŞ, as part of Southern Kurdistan and Iraq, would like to take part in operations to take new territory. We are prepared to take part under our own name in the operations to liberate these places.

“KDP PREVENTED THE LIBERATION OF THOSE VILLAGES”

* Hashd Al-Shaabî launched some operations in the south of Shengal and took some territory. These were not included in the previous plans. What do you think of these operations?

We did have previous planning to liberate these villages. When the Mosul operation started, we carried out operations to the south of Shengal, along the Kolik mountain. We even were the first to act in the first phase of the Mosul operation. But wrongful politics, thinking of one’s own power and disregarding the pain of the people prevented the liberation of these villages. You must have followed, we called for the Kurdish powers to joint action to liberate these villages before. We said we could save Shengal’s villages with a planned framework. This call was not answered. KDP only thought of their own power, and didn’t respond. KDP thought it better to have it all to themselves and have it late. They didn’t think of the Êzidî people. “The people could die, the nomads could live under duress but under my government.” Today, if it was for KDP’s plan, even the liberated areas couldn’t be liberated for the next 30 years perhaps. It’s not all shaped by one party, one family, one clan’s politics. See, Hashd Al-Shaabî came and took those villages. Now the KDP says “they don’t accept” over the media. If you didn’t accept, you should have liberated those areas. The International Coalition was supportive, we as the forces here were supportive. Now they ask why Hashd Al-Shaabî came here. If you wait, others will come.

- In parallel to the last question, some KDP peshmerga are reported to have joined Hashd Al-Shaabî. What happened there?

KDP officials have the answer to that question. These Êzidîs acted with the KDP up to now, so what happened that they crossed over to Hashd Al-Shaabî in one day? KDP abandoned the rest of Kurdistan to focus on preventing Shengal’s status. For the last 1.5 to 2 years, they have been waiting there. They didn’t put one step out of their positions to liberate these villages. So the people started to search for other options. They lost faith in the KDP to liberate the villages. They were left watching the villages where their children, their parents and their friends were murdered or abducted. I believe they just lost patience at some point. They believed their ideas, them or their families didn’t matter to the KDP. When they saw theHashd Al-Shaabî, who came from Baghdad and from many other places, launch an operation on their villages that they had been just watching for months, they left the KDP and joined them.

* KDP attacked Khanasor on March 3, when the villages Hashd Al-Shaabî took now were still under ISIS control. Did KDP’s attack affect your possible operations on these villages? Couldn’t the KDP have focused on these villages before?

Those gangs are not even KDP’s gangs. They belong to Erdoğan. Those are the gangs that took part in the Shengal massacre before. KDP didn’t intend to liberate those villages, their only concern was us. That is why, even though there was international support for the liberation of those villages, even though KDP acquired tonnes of weapons from the West using the tragedy of the Êzidîs after the genocide, they didn’t do anything.

“IF WE HAD RETALIATED IN KHANASOR, THE CLASHES WOULD HAVE SPREAD ALL OVER KURDISTAN”

Those weapons were used against us, and KDP is still looking for opportunities to use them again. A possible attack by a state, clan or party on the Êzidî lands will lead the way for many problems in the region. That is unacceptable. We won’t accept that. Our fight is against ISIS and their cohorts. We want the issues to be resolved through politics. But, we will resist a military attack. We as the Êzidîs will be here, and we will fight whoever comes at us. Everybody should know that we didn’t want to fight in Khanasor. If we had retaliated against the attacks in Khanasor, the war would have extended beyond Khanasor and spread throughout four parts of Kurdistan, which we don’t want as the Êzidîs.

* Another issue is that Turkey continues to threaten Shengal. And KDP is stockpiling military equipment. What are your views on this?

The Turkish state is settling on Kurdish lands and is attacking Kurds. They are attacking Kurds using Kurdish parties. They build alliances with some Kurdish politicians and murder Kurdish youth. Let’s put Northern Kurdistan aside, the greatest threat now is over Southern Kurdistan. The Turkish state is a great threat for Shengal. But it’s not just Erdoğan, we will fight whoever comes at Shengal, at Êzidî lands, we will fight them. We have preparations for this as well. The Turkish state enters Southern Kurdistan and forms forces to attack Kurds. This ignorance by the Southern Kurdistan administration is worse than death for them. We can see the danger, and the people of Southern Kurdistan should also see it. But the Southern Kurdistan government still considers them friends. How can the enemy of your brother be your friend? They need to wake up from this ignorance. They are enemies to Rojava, to Shengal, to Northern Kurdistan, but they are your friends? All the Kurdish people need to see this.

- Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar Abadi said they will “form a joint force in Shengal” recently. What do you think about this?

We as the Êzidîs, are not against Arabs, Turkmens, Syriacs or other peoples or faiths. If such a force is formed, we as the ones who fought against ISIS, who stopped ISIS and in fact who fought the first serious fight against ISIS in Iraq would like to take our place in it. Shengal has its own institutions now. Shengal wants to govern itself. If that declaration will include and accept these, it will be a positive step. This is not just limited to Shengal. It needs to consider all minorities who have been experiencing ISIS tyranny in other places in Iraq.