CHRISTIAN WERNER
LOWER SAXONY / ALEMANIA
PROJECT: 74
The Yezidi religion is one of the oldest. Since its founding years 74 genocides committed against them. The youngest and most systematic done by the IS terrorist militia. The Yazidis are more persecuted than other religious communities, because they are regarded as devil worshipers. This is because they believe in Tausi Melek, a fallen angel in the form of a peacock. Since the invasion of the IS terrorist militia in Iraq, hundreds of thousands Yazidis were uprooted and are on the run. Thousands of men and boys were shot and beheaded women abducted and sold at auction as sex slaves.
In adverse circumstances they have erected makeshift shelters, where they found just enough room. Only a few have made it into the camps set up by NGOs. Most live in the reinforced concrete skeletons of unfinished houses, improvised in tents made of tarpaulins and branches or on the road. They had no chance to prepare for the flight, nor to pack the essentials. Winter has come to Kurdistan and saps the forces of refugees who have no winter clothes or blankets to protect themselves against it. Until the beginning of the year 10,000 Yazidis were encircled in the Sinjar Mountains of the IS militia. Over 4 months, they fought with little food, little ammunition and weapons to survive until the Kurdish Peshmerga free fought a land corridor.
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