ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Hundreds of Yazidis from around the world, many of whom were forced out of their ancestral land during the Islamic State (ISIS) attack on Shingal in 2014, have gathered in the southeastern Turkish province of Sirnak to celebrate Jama holiday, performing traditional dances and religious rituals as they wish for a safe return to their home and reunion with their loved ones. Yazidis from across the globe head towards the holy Lalish Temple to participate in religious rituals and ceremonies during Jama, a holiday marked by the religious minority every year in early October. 2022 marks the first year where followers of the religion have been able to gather in Lalish for Jama since the coronavirus outbreak, yet for some a return to the holy temple is still not an option at the moment. “I am from Shingal, and now I live in Midyat. I have been living here for the past 4-5 years [after the ISIS attack]… I hope the situation in our country gets better and we can leave here and go back [to Shingal],” one of the attendees of the festivities told Rudaw's Abdulsalam Akinci on Friday, “We miss Shingal… we want to live in a country where we can find solace.” Ismael is originally from Sirnak’s Kiwakh but has lived abroad for the past 43 years due to the poor conditions facing the Yazidi community in the area. He expressed his wishes to one day return to the land of his ancestors. “I hope we can return to Kiwakh. Our ancestors have lived here for over 500 years. I hope peace prevails and all the components, Assyrians, Jews, Muslims, Yazidis, can live together… There are many obstacles. The villages are destroyed. Nobody lives in Kiwakh anymore and it must be rebuilt,” Ismael said. Yazidi followers celebrate Jama for seven consecutive days. Top officials of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq on Thursday congratulated Yazidis on the occasion of the holiday, reiterating their support for the swift rehabilitation of Yazidi areas and institutions, and wishes for overcoming the challenges facing the community. Among the most irredeemably grotesque acts of the Islamic State (ISIS) was its attack upon the Yazidi homeland of Shingal, northern Iraq, on August 3, 2014, setting into motion the killing of thousands, and capture of thousands more, as it fractured the religious minority’s community. For almost eight years, the Kurdistan Region has been home to tens of thousands of displaced Yazidis, many of whom exist below the poverty line despite warm words.
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