“I’m 22 years old,” said Saad Salih, a Yazidi refugee from the Sinjar district in Northwest Iraq, “and I have never gone to school.”
Salih arrived illegally in Germany about 5 months ago, after finally escaping the Yazidi genocide by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Sinjar in 2014. Now, he’s trying to educate himself and rebuild his life in Germany while facing the risk of deportation.
According to Salih, he is one of over 50,000 Yazidis in Germany facing the risk of deportation. Over 30,000 Yazdis have already been issued official deportation orders by the German government, leaving them with no formal access to education or work opportunities. “The future of Yazidis [in Germany] is uncertain; Germany is deporting us because they think Sinjar is not a war zone anymore, but simultaneously it is strongly encouraging its own citizens to leave [Iraq] promptly because of instability caused by active militias…the same militias that Germany acknowledged are committing genocide against the Yazidis!”
“When I was 13 years old, the Islamic State attacked my village,” Salih said. “I lost everything then: my childhood, my friends, members of my family; they took my brothers,” he pauses, “for 9 years I didn’t know if they were alive.” In August 2014 ISIS forces conquered Salih’s hometown Sinjar — the ancestral homeland of the Yazidis — and declared an Islamic Caliphate in the region, explains Professor David Simon, Director of the Genocide Studies Program (GSP) at Yale University. “To ISIS, the Yazidis are infidels,” says Professor Simon, “and in their minds this justifies violence toward the Yazidi people; they killed thousands of men and sold thousands of women into sex slavery.”
“We are killed just for our beliefs,” says Salih with sadness in his eyes, “which most people misunderstand!” A revered figure in Yazidism is Tawûsî Melek, a fallen angel forgiven and returned to heaven by God. But “people mistakenly identify Tawûsî Melek with the figure of Shaytan (or Satan)” in Judeo-Christian tradition, says Salih. For this reason, the Yazidis have been deemed “devil worshippers,” making them a target for religious persecution historically. “ISIS attacks on Yazidis are, in fact, genocidal.” says Professor Simon. “Unfortunately, 2014 wasn’t the first, but the 73rd time the Yazidis have faced genocide in their history.”
Like many undocumented Yazidi asylum seekers, Salih cannot attend school or seek employment in Germany because of his “illegal” immigration status. But “I don’t just want to sit around and do nothing all day,” Salih says as he unzips his backpack to reveal books he is currently reading. For 9 years of his life, all Salih had was a cellphone, internet when he’s lucky, a few pairs of clothes, and the resolve to go somewhere he can find an education. “Every child should get the chance to go to school; education is a human right,” said Salih. Over the past three years, Salih has taught himself some “basic math and English by watching YouTube videos and reading online,” he says humbly. “Nothing can stop him from learning,” says his friend Shireen Tôhildan, “he loves it [and] he is so smart he does it all on his own!” Now, Salih is teaching himself German and basic coding in Python, even though he does not have a computer or formal access to language classes.
In response to deportation orders issued by the government, a group of Yazidi refugees organized a hunger strike outside the Reichstag Building, home to the German parliament, where Salih volunteered to be a translator. “I know some German but now I cannot go to German class, so I cannot work, because I’m [facing] deportation,” said Omar Zaidi, a Yazidi asylum seeker who just received a deportation order. Yazidis all over Germany are receiving deportation notices, and as a result their now “illegal” immigration status bars them from taking German classes or working. Many at the protest resonated that this was a major struggle in rebuilding their lives in Germany. Some Yazidis have received notices that give them a deadline to leave the country, while others have received notices without specified deadlines leaving them in limbo.
“In January [2023], the German government passed a memo recognizing the 2014 massacre of Yazidis by ISIS to be a genocide, but now the government is deporting us to the same place we are facing the genocide?” says Salih. “I’m not Iraqi, I am Yazidi. No one in Iraq care[s] about us, the government persecutes us, ISIS kills us, if I go back I will die,” says Firaz Sha, a Yazidi asylum seeker protesting his deportation order at the hunger strike. Professor Simon concurs with Ahmed’s assessment that Sinjar is not safe for return yet, despite the “announced withdrawal” of ISIS fighters in 2019. “The special risk factors for genocide pre-2019 the Yale GSP mentioned in its 2019 report still persist in Sinjar today,” says Professor Simon, “it is not safe for Yazidis to return.” Martin Sichert, a member of the AfD (Alternative for Germany) party in the German parliament, acknowledging the strikers claim that the Yazidis continue to face genocide in Iraq said, “we are deporting the wrong people.”
When asked about his future in Germany, Salih said his only hope for a future comes from educating himself and others. “I want to learn so that someday I can get a job and my work can help people; I want to help the Yazidi people, the German people, and most of all I want to teach the children like me who couldn’t go to school,” says Salih. “I don’t just aspire to live in Germany, I aspire to make a difference here!”
