FROM THE DAESH INFERNO TO THE NEW MIDDLE EAST

A YAZIDI OUTLOOK

The Inferno of the Islamic State, By Hassou Hourmi

“The Inferno of the Islamic State” is the second book by Iraqi Kurdish Yazidi poet, author and activist Hassou Hourmi, president of Yezidi Foundation in the Netherlands and member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Like his other book, “The Last Farman”, published in 2016, this book documents crimes committed by Daesh(ISIS) against Kurdish Yazidis and other ethnic minorities, since August 2014, when Daesh took control of Northern Iraq. Hourmi substantiates his advocacy of Kurdish Yazidi rights by a number of research papers and statements taken from interventions made by him and by other activists in various international conferences.

The book does not only uncover the horrific crimes perpetrated by Daesh against ethnic minority, it is also a record of efforts put into giving the world a clear picture of the sufferings of Yazidis and other minorities at the hands of Daesh terrorists, and into making the voices of survivors of the genocide in Northern Iraq heard.

In addition to a record of lectures, delivered to forums on terrorism and genocide in various countries,the book presents its reader with a chronological The Sinjar massacre, with the killing and abduction of Yazidis in Sinjar city and Sinjar District in Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate by Daesh terrorists in August 2014, and the crimes of ethnic cleansing that followed, up to June 2017.

The portrays a dreary picture of the Yazidi community in Iraqi Kurdistan, where hundreds of thousands of this miserable people live in camps, thousands are in need of physical and psychological rehabilitation from injuries and from the deeply depressing and disturbing experience of life under the Islamic State.

According to Hourmi, the Yazidi population in Iraqi Kurdistan in November 2015 numbered 550,000, out of which 400,000 are displaced and 65 thousand are refugees. There are 960 orphans who lost their parents as a result of the invasion and 1527 kidnapped children(male and female)out of a total of 5838 individuals kidnapped by terrorists. The number of religious shrines blown up by Daesh terrorists is 42 and the number of mass graves that have been discovered, so far, is 21.

What’s next for post-Daesh Iraq?

Top priority for Hourmi, in post- Daesh Iraq, is to rehabilitate victims of the “Daesh Invasion”, and compensate them to make up for their suffering. He calls for the establishment of an non-governmental organization whose job will be the advocacy of the rights of the victims of Daesh, and the provision of scholarships for the children of those victims in international universities.

In answer to the question “will it be possible for ethnic minorities to lead a normal life in Iraq, even after Daesh is gone?” he suggests that safe havens for minorities should be set up by international community, and with the help of Iraqi non-governmental organizations.

He calls for the protection of religious shrines, in accordance with international law. Genocide must be incriminated in Iraq.

The International community represented by the international Criminal tribunal should recognize, the genocide perpetrated by Daesh, compensate its victims and honor the memory of those victims by extending a helping hand to their families.

The author is aware of the fact that it is not easy to get the international community to recognize a genocide and that this may need a long drag. True, the Middle East is changing and it may be possible (no one knows when, exactly) to use the issue of Daesh thnic cleansing in order to make the international community ready to recognize genocide. But, victims of Daesh should make a road-map for their future in Iraq and should get themselves ready for the emerging geopolitical situation in the region.