Ezidi 24 – Dyab Ghanem
Translation: Tahseen Alhaskany
A natural pit, estimated to be 100 meters deep, about 6 km away from the center of the “Tal Afar” district, near a village called “Baki Qoot”, which ISIS used to bury its victims, the bodies shrunk its depth, appearing on the surface of the depth, the bones and clothes, it is the Well of the “pigeons”.
Bashar Dakheel, a Yazidi captured with his family in by ISIS when the organization attacked “Sinjar” district in the western of Nineveh Governorate on August 3, 2014, and he survived after spending nearly two and a half years in captivity, tells “Ezidi24” what he heard about this Well when he was held in ISIS prisons.
“ISIS committed the most heinous crimes against us as a Yazidis. In fact, we lived the most difficult days of our lives in captivity, because we have always been subject to death, otherwise we saw various crimes with our own eyes while ISIS members were careful to tell us the whereabouts of the rest of the families or the places of their liquidation.” This is what he said At the beginning of his speech.
“When we were in captivity, specifically on April 23, 2015, they separated everyone from each other (it was not the first time) and took them to this Well and killed them. I did not see the Well, but we heard from members of ISIS themselves that they use it for the purpose of liquidating those who were arrested for a reason or violating their policy”, He said.
“As I said, no one saw this Well when they took control of the “Tal Afar” district because they did not allow anyone, because most of the crimes they were committing were in this place, and after I survived, I visited this place and the effects of crimes are clear. There are Skeletons for people on the surface of the depth of the Well and I know that there are people left from Yazidis, but I am not aware of the number of victims in the Well”, This is what Dakheel said at the end of his speech.
The member of the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights, Dr. Ali al-Bayati reiterate, “This cemetery contains 400 bodies belonging to the deceased from the Shiite Turkmen, and also 600 bodies belonging to the sons of the Yazidi component were killed by ISIS, in addition to a number of other bodies belonging to the various components.”
“This cemetery is one of the most heinous crimes of ISIS, where he did not stop killing and throwing them in the cemetery. Rather, he exploded this cemetery from time to another in order to expand the cemetery further”, He continued.
The Turkmen activist and manager of the Intercultural Dialogue organization for Development and relife, spoke to “Ezidi24” and said, “This Well is located near the Turkmen village of “Baki Qoot” in an unused empty space, it was called the pigeons Well due to the mirage of pigeons above the Well and the Turkmen call it in Tal Afar “Alo Antar”, ISIS used it to kill and bury innocents of various components in Nineveh”.
“There are traces of the victims in the Well and these traces show that they are from the Yazidi component due to their clothes and also the Turkmen component, and it appears that they were thrown with bullets and then buried in the Well and among the victims are women and children”, This is what she also mentioned.
“The majority of victims are from the Yazidi and Turkoman component, according to our information, including a Turkmen woman who is a former Iraqi parliament member, the government should search for this crime, reveal the number of victims accurately, take samples from their relatives, and take a DNA test to identify the victims, because their families are waiting for them, and ISIS members must be held accountable for this hideous crime, Those who committed the most heinous crimes and the government should consider these victims as martyrs out of respect for their sacrifice”, She said.
In a statement to the Iraqi Media Network (IMN), , “Abdel Karim Al-Mousawi” who is the father of three victims who were killed by ISIS in this Well, says, “When ISIS came, the majority of the people of Tal Afar and Sinjar were displaced. who succeed to escaped lived, and who was kidnapped by ISIS was killed by ISIS members”.
“Whoever was arrested by ISIS was thrown into this Well after his killing, whether they were from the Arabs, Turkmen, or Yazidis”, He continued.
“Ghalib Ahmed”, the last relatives of the victims who were liquidated into this Well, told IMN in a previous meeting, “While ISIS took of these areas, They killed many innocent people and buried them here in this Well, my brother and my cousin are among those who ISIS killed them”.
“We went to the Well to collect the remains of our families, but no one can do that because they are buried, and there are a large number of victims estimated at 1500 according to what we heard, so the authorities must find a solution to extract the remains and bury them”, This is what Ahmed said at the end of his speech.
