Newroz Dijwar/JINHA

HEWREMAN – In the historic village of Dereymer, in the Federal Kurdistan Region, villagers forced to leave the village are working to secure protection for the ancient site.

Dereymer, located in the Hewreman region of the Federal Kurdistan Region, stands between two mountains at the border between Southern and Eastern Kurdistan. The village’s striking caves, where villagers lived until 2003, are thought to have provided a refuge for Êzidîs fleeing the dozens of genocidal massacres they have experienced over their history. The caves are thought to have been a site of human habitation for thousands of years. The village has a more recent history of resistance, as well. The village was a site where Kurds resisting Saddam Hussein’s persecution during the 1990s took up arms.

Now, villagers have been forced to leave their village since local water sources dried up and the government has not replaced them with running water. The villagers are now calling on the government to secure protection for the village, which possesses unique cultural, historical and environmental features.

Dereymer local Arif explains that before they left the village, villagers survived through pastoralism and smuggling at the Iraq-Iran border. The village faced issues; it lacked a hospital, local men and women had to bring in all supplies on mules and snowfall blocked routes during the winter.
“But in spite of everything, life in our village was really nice,” said Arif. “Then our water source dried up, and we have no roads. The government did nothing for us. Otherwise, we’d have stayed in the village.”

Arif says the village, where locals speak the Hewremi variety of Kurdish and wear clothing distinct to the region, has different cultural practices from other areas. Instead of a bride-price system, families would demand that a man undertake some improvement in the village (such as building a road) in order to be able to marry their daughter.

“I know of a few people who married that way. Three-kilometer roads got built that way,” said Arif.

The villagers hope that protection from the government will ensure the continuation of their cultural and historical tradition. They are still waiting for news.

(zd/mg/cm)