Shengal’s future was discussed in Baghdad without the people who must live with the consequences. That was the message behind a march held in Sinûnê on 8 September, when hundreds of Ezidis took to the streets to reject a proposed military administration and decisions made without Ezidi representation.
The protest followed a Baghdad meeting on 1 September concerning Shengal’s political and security situation. According to the Shengal People’s Assembly, local Ezidi representatives were excluded while military and security officials dominated the discussion. The Assembly warned that reducing Shengal to a security issue ignores the political rights, historical experience and will of the Ezidi people.
For the protesters, the question is not simply who controls checkpoints or commands security forces. It is whether the people of Shengal will be recognised as the decision-makers in their own homeland. Demonstrators argued that no outside authority can impose an administrator, negotiate an agreement or redesign Shengal’s security structure without the participation and consent of its people.
The march also brought renewed attention to concerns over the future of local Ezidi defence forces. The Assembly has called for the legal recognition of forces formed to protect Shengal, including YBŞ, YJŞ and Êzîdxan Asayişi. Participants warned that disbanding or weakening these forces without a credible alternative would leave Shengal exposed once again. For a people who survived the 2014 Ezidi genocide after being abandoned by those responsible for their protection, security cannot be separated from trust, accountability and self-determination.
Speakers at the march stressed that Shengal cannot be returned to the political conditions that existed before 2014. The Ezidi people have built local institutions, organised their own defence and continued to demand answers for survivors, families of the missing and those still waiting to return home. Their position is that political recognition, civilian representation and protection must move together; military arrangements alone cannot resolve the consequences of genocide, displacement and years of uncertainty.
The reference to the risk of another ferman was not made lightly. For Ezidis, the word carries the memory of repeated campaigns of persecution and destruction. The march therefore carried a wider warning to Baghdad: excluding Ezidis from decisions about Shengal does not create stability. It deepens mistrust and repeats the pattern in which others decide the future of the Ezidi people without listening to them.
The demand from Sinûnê was clear. Shengal’s future must not be determined through military appointments or closed-door decisions. It must be shaped with the full participation of the Ezidi people, through dialogue, legal guarantees and recognition of their right to govern and protect their homeland.
