From very remote northern Iraq, the largely untold story of the Yazidi people and a day to remember, for all the worst reasons. On 14th August last year, hundreds of Yazidis, an ancient Kurdish religious sect, were killed in one of the worst terrorist attacks the world has ever seen. But, for whatever reason, this particular atrocity hardly caused a blip on the world's TV screens and news services. As intrepid as ever, here's Dateline's Sophie McNeill.
REPORTER: Sophie McNeill
These men are about to set off on one of the more dangerous roads in northern Iraq. They are Pershmerga, troops of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region.
HAVAL DAKHIL, (Translation): From here the road is not safe but we won't be scared because we have guards and we are ready to confront anyone.
We are heading outside the safe Kurdish area to Sinjar, a small isolated town near the Syrian border about 100 kilometres from the city of Mosul.
HAVAL DAKHIL, TALKING TO THE DRIVER, (Translation): If a car blows up in front of us just move to the opposite side.
I'm given my orders, stay down low and not to open the tinted windows under any circumstance.
HAVAL DAKHIL, (Translation): If there’s a bomb in the ground that explodes by remote, or a bomb that is very sensitive, then we have a problem.
We're going to see the survivors of the world's third most deadly act of terrorism since September 11. The victims were Yazidis, a tiny and ancient religious sect who have lived in these parts for thousands of years and have been persecuted for almost as long. These temples were built by Yazidis. Descendents of sun worshippers, theirs is one of the world's oldest religions, blending elements of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism. Ancient monasteries and temples mark the centre of Yazidi worship here in Lalish.
MAHMOUD SULIMAN MAHMOUD, (Translation): Lalish is a very ancient place, and it's very special for all Yazidis.
Mahmoud Suliman Mahmoud, a Yazidi, invited me to film inside the temples.
MAHMOUD SULIMAN MAHMOUD, (Translation): The Yazidi people worshipped the sun for nearly 3,000 years until the prophet Abraham came into the world, and he said to them, "There is something more powerful behind the sun, behind the rain, thunder and lightning." They asked what this power was. It was God.
Yazidis worship an angel in the form of a blue peacock, believing this peacock angel to be the ruler of the universe. But because this angel is believed by Christians and Muslims to be Lucifer, the fallen angel, the Yazidis have been labelled as 'devil worshippers'. This, and their rejection of Islam, have made them a target for persecution. Once numbering in their millions, today there are estimated to be only about 100,000 Yazidis left, mainly living in small towns in northern Iraq. Suffering forced relocation and discrimination under Saddam Hussein, the Yazidi community had high hopes after the United States overthrew the dictator in 2003. But life post-Saddam has been much worse. This closely guarded home belongs to the Yazidi religious leaders, the Baba Sheikh and his son Prince Tahseen.
PRINCE TAHSEEN, YAZIDI PRINCE, RELIGIOUS LEADER (Translation): There are political parties here that are against all the rights of minorities Christian, Sabean, Yazidis and they want to convert us to Islam but that's impossible.
Prince Tahseen believes Sunni extremists are behind the many attacks on his people.
PRINCE TAHSEEN, (Translation): They are angered by Kurds as a nationality, demanding their rights, and angered by Yazidis as a religion. We suffer twice not once.
At 7:15pm on Tuesday, 14 August 2007, three cars and a tanker drove into two Yazidi towns on the outskirts of Sinjar. In a coordinated attack, all four vehicles exploded. Dateline has been given this never-before-seen footage of the scene the day after the attack.
BOY, (Translation): We were in the house and it collapsed on us. Somebody blew himself up and the house fell on myself and my brother.
WOMAN, (Translation): We've lost 4 young ones, 1 woman and 3 men. And from the other house, three children and one young person and others are wounded. I can't continue. Please, I cannot go on any more. Our lives have been destroyed.
At the time it was estimated that around 500 people were killed, most when their mud and stone huts collapsed at the force of the blast.
MAN, (Translation): We've dug out 23 or 24 and others are still there, .
The American military now estimate the final toll to be 796 people killed.
HAVAL DAKHIL: All this area, it's Arab.
Many Kurds and Yazidis fear that the local Iraqi police are involved in the attacks against them. Haval Dakhil, in charge of our security, is the son of a local Yazidi leader.
HAVAL DAKHIL, (Translation): Five or six months ago, a local official, Mr Sabast, was caught in an explosion here. A roadside bomb exploded here. Some guards were killed and in the end the investigation showed that those checkpoint authorities were involved.
We've reached the scene of last year's blasts.
REPORTER: Where did the car blow up?
HAVAL DAKHIL (Translation): This area, it was almost all houses, it was called Ghragzeer and almost 100 houses were destroyed here.
OLD MAN, (Translation): 11 martyrs were killed in this house. Five from that house and three from that house. And five from that house and the other one five.
We are quickly surrounded by people, each with their own story of tragedy from that day.
YOUNG BOY (Translation): My uncle was 35 years old, One cousin was 16 and the other sister was 12 and another was 8. And my grandmother. They were all here and were killed by the explosion.
HAIDER ALI TATA (Translation): This was my daughter and my wife.
Haider ali Tata lost his brother, his wife and their three children in the attack.
HAIDER ALI TATA (Translation): I was at the explosion. My youngest daughter was coming towards me. As I was about to pick her up, that house over there fell on me and I was about 30m away from the explosion. That girl was my daughter, her name is Aveen, and I was about to pick her up and also my other children, Habeer and Dargham, were also in the house when it fell. That big house fell on my little house because it was behind it.
They tell me there are 70 to 80 missing people believed to be still under the remains.
MAN, (Translation): There's no water, no electricity and no hospital.
With little left except their faith, the Yazidi wonder why their plight has been ignored by the world.
MAN, (Translation): I pray that we Yazidis have success and safety, and can live like other human beings. And we hope to God that everyone can live in peace.
HAVAL DAKHIL, (Translation): We don't know why they didn't pay attention to us and they do for people who are abused or killed in Europe or London, where they would pay great attention to it and they would mark an anniversary.
The Yazidian people would be happy having just a quarter of the rights that Western people have. They just want to live. The Yazidian people are very poor, they just want to live and everywhere you can recognise them by their poverty. They don't like to trespass on anyone or to be trespassed on. They just want to live their lives.
Credits
Reporter/Camera
SOPHIE MCNIELL
Editor
ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS
Producer
ASHLEY SMITH
Fixer
BIZO ABDULKADIR
Subtitling
MAYADA KURDI-KHALIL
Archive courtesy of Zagros Television
Security
Thank you to Haval Dakhil and the Kurdish Regional Government
Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN
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