My documentary helped 1,000 Yezidi women find safety in Germany: journalist

Düzen Tekkal, 41, is a Yezidi German journalist, filmmaker and founder of the NGO Hawar Help. Tekkal says she played a role in influencing the German public and authorities alike to extend assistance to Yezidis by becoming the first German journalist to cover atrocities her community members in Shingal suffered at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS) in August 2014.

Following the release of her 2014 documentary 'Plight - My Travel to Genocide,’ the German government decided to provide asylum and rehabilitation for 1000 Yezidi women.

Tekkal was the first journalist to hold an interview with Yezidi survivor Noble Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad.

She spoke to Rudaw last week about her work as an journalist and activist for her persecuted community. 


Six years ago, you became the first journalist who visited to the Kurdistan Region to cover the massacre and plight of Yezidis for German media. Would you mind speaking about that?

True. I was the first German-Yezidi journalist. The massacre committed emboldened me to travel to the Kurdistan Region. It was the most difficult journey of my life. It was very dangerous back in August 2014 after scenes of Yezidis fleeing Shingal were made public to the entire world. It was the same month when Daesh [ISIS] beheaded James Foley [an American journalist]. Two weeks after Daesh beheaded Foley, I visited the Kurdistan Region, because I did not want to sit idly and only watch from afar. I returned with my father. It was really interesting to me. It was the first time that I visited Kurdistan and went to a war zone area. I never forget the feeling I had when reading a road sign directing 'to Mosul' after I landed in Erbil. My whole body was shaking in fear,  telling myself 'what will happen if Daesh capture us?' We drove on the same road Daesh militants had used. When I saw the displaced Yezidis, I saw fear in them. These scenes changed my life forever.

You were able to affect the public opinion of Germany speaking in detail about the killing, buying and selling Yezidi women and children as sex slaves. You were also the first journalist to hold an interview with Nadia Murad. In your opinion, how important was it for the German media to cover the calamities Yezidis witnessed at the hands of ISIS?

Unless you witness something yourself, you do not understand what really happened. It was clear to us that we needed images to show to the world that Yezidis were suffering while fleeing for their lives. We needed to deliver personal stories of those fleeing. Nadia Murad was the first Yezidi woman who told her story on camera. She shattered the taboo. I too broke the taboo by showing her on camera. In our culture, a women and girl like Nadia Murad, who is 'violated,' should not be shown to the public. This stereotype left me seething. Therefore, German media outlets never spoke about individual victims when covering Daesh atrocities. What was really important for me was that I had to shed light on both sides; the terrorists who committed the crime and the victims. The most important thing for me to begin with was that I needed to show a face to embody women’s bravery. Therefore, I started to work on my documentary named 'Plight Documentary - My Travel to Genocide'. I received abundant support from the Kurdistan Region to film my documentary.

After your return to Germany, you kicked off a campaign to inform the public in Germany of calamities Yezidis suffered at the hands of ISIS. How did you start it?

If we really are humanitarian activists, our words must be strong. We are the people of this country [Iraq]. We were there. We managed to tell Germans of the stories that the they had no idea about. I collected all the documents and stories to deliver them to the Germans to remind them of our nation's sufferings. I told them if we really wanted to help the affected [Yezidis], we must reach out to the government officials, though it was not easy. We did not give up. I should say that the German government was very eager to hear of the Yezidi plight. When I returned to Germany, I made very good contacts with security agencies warning them of the return of [foreign] Daesh members and speaking with them regarding Yezidi mass graves [in Iraq]. Not everybody in Germany believed what had really happened [to Yezidis] because the genocide had just taken place. As a German journalist who had just returned to Germany with multiple photos that I took in Kurdistan, I was not just paid attention to by German TV channels, but also by security agencies and party officials and members. 

I do remember very well when I received a phone call from  Michael Blume [a religious scholar and religious affairs official ] from Baden-Württemberg saying.. "your report was aired on TV today. Many decision makers of our government have seen it , and Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann decided to receive one thousand Yezidi women.” 

This is a simple example proving how strong we are. Each one of us can make a change and be influential in our own way if we really love our work.

In 2015, you established Hawar Help Organization. You also do work with the Germany's finance and labor ministry. What are you able to do for Yezidis?

Together with the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Müller, we have a project named Return to Life. Our task is to assist women who have survived Daesh in order for them be able to embark on a new life. As part of the project, we have opened many programs including tailoring and many other courses. They demand courses like IT and English language be opened for them. We have plenty of other jobs to do including increasing the number of women centers inside refugee camps. We would like to work with the Kurdistan government as well.

You made a documentary about Najla Mato [a Yezidi survivor]. Together with Najla you travelled to the Kurdistan Region and then Shingal. What is the message this documentary conveys ? Five years into the Yezidi genocide, what is left you want to tell the German authorities of?

The documentary was screened at a hall packed with German decision makers. I just wanted to remind them that the massacre has not yet ended and what you watched was not just a documentary, but an authentic bitter story. I wanted to embody in the documentary that our people are still in the state of despair. There are much more left to do for them. We must be on their side in order to restore all of their rights. We do not do them justice if we leave them in limbo. 

Interview by Alla Shaly

Translation by Zhelwan Z.Wali