ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdish renowned band Koma Amed held a musical concert in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday, with the proceeds from the concert dedicated to aiding the Yazidis in Shingal (Sinjar), Nineveh province.
“We will hand over all the aid collected yesterday, today, and tomorrow to the government of Baden-Wurttemberg,” Professor Ilhan Kizilhan, founder of Sinune Hospital and organizer of the concert, told Rudaw on the sidelines of the event. He added that “They will take this aid to Sinune and Shingal to provide to the teams there, so they can transport patients to hospitals, and ensure they receive mental health treatment.”
With an estimated population of 140,000, Sinune is one of the largest predominantly Yazidi towns in Shingal district. The town's hospital, providing psychotherapy treatments to Yazidi survivors of the Islamic State (ISIS) genocide, was opened in 2021 with support from the German government and its staff were trained in collaboration with University of Duhok.
In August 2014, ISIS launched a brutal attack on Shingal, committing systematic killings, enslavement, and rape of thousands of Yazidis. Both the United Nations and the German Bundestag have recognized the attack as genocide.
The concert, held at the palace of the government of Baden-Wurttemberg state in southwest Germany, a location Kizilhan said carries symbolic weight, captivated over 400 guests, including German politicians, and the Kurdish diaspora.
Philipp Keil, Head of the development and cooperation body of the Baden-Wurttemberg state, told Rudaw at the event that the concert’s message is “very important for the Yazidis and for all communities in general.” He noted that Yazidis “want to live in peace, but for these communities, conditions are constantly worsening, and their rights are increasingly being suppressed. They have no hope because they remain in the camps, so we must show solidarity.”
Baden-Wurttemberg was the first state in Germany to welcome 1,000 Yazidi women and girls, where they received medical treatment. Over the past ten years, approximately 60 projects to aid Yazidis have been implemented, costing around five million euros (about $5.8 million).
Participants praised the purpose of the event. Gashbin Minayi, a Kurdish participant, said, “The concert was very lively and well-attended. Many interesting speeches were presented during the opening. The goal was also a worthy one, and I feel good about having participated in this concert.”
"I believe these activities can be very beneficial; on one hand, it concerns financial aid, and on the other, it concerns awareness, conveying the spirit, and bridging cultural divides," Gabriel Konfaras, a German participant, told Rudaw.
The largest Yazidi diaspora lives in Germany, and many attendees urged that more events like this be organized in the future to help raise funds for the ethnoreligious minority.
Koma Amed was formed in 1988 and released their first album Kulilka Azadi (The Flower of Freedom) in secret because the Kurdish language was banned in Turkey at the time. Their music became a symbol of resistance and several band members were forced to flee to Europe. The group ended 30 years in exile in October, returning to perform a concert in Diyarbakir.
Alla Shally contributed to this article from Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.
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