At the beginning of the 20th century, Sindjar belonged to the kaza of Mosul, and it was the only place in the whole Ottoman Empire where the Armenians were accepted and protected. Fierce mountain people, strenuous defenders of their independence, those people inhabited the Sindjar mountain, isolated amidst the desert of Mesopotamia. Over a half of its dwellers, nearly 20,000 were yezidis.
The Kurdish chief Hammo Șero was thankful toward the Armenians, as some years earlier, when the sultan wanted to massacre his Yezidis, he had received protection from France and England, Christian powers. He was a "patriarchal figure, with a long white beard […] and he used to pass among the tents of the Armenian refugeees in order to bring them relief and consolation." He had a network of informants who patrolled the surroundings of the mountain massif to learn about the proceeding of was and to rescue the Armenian refugees. When the Turkish kaimakam of Balad asked Hammo Șero to hand over to him some Armenian fugitives, the ağa replied that it would be a shame for him to hand over the guests of the mountains, for they, like all guests, are sacred. Rachel Youssoufian, the Armenian survivor of the camp of Ras-ul-Ain, bore witness to her acceptance on mount Sindjar and to the fact that, as she had two children, she was given a house, which was separate from the ones of the other Armenians, nearly 200 people including women, girls and kids. In 1919 there were still 500 Apostolic Armenians, 160 Catholic and 100 Jacobite ones, 100 Syrians, sheltered and hosted on mount Sindjar.
Historian Yves Ternon concludes his remarks for the Revue d’Historie de la Shoah, with these words: "This is the extraordinary tale of Hammo Șero, the chief of Sindjar, a Righteous for the Armenians."
Gariwo (en.gariwo.net/editorials/the-chief-of-sindjar-a-righteous-for-the-armenians-18061.html), February 8, 2018