Persecution of Yazidis explained

The persecution of Yazidis has been ongoing since at least the 12th century.[1] [2] [3] Yazidis are an endogamous and mostly Kurmanji-speaking[4] minority, indigenous to Kurdistan.[5] The Yazidi religion is regarded as "devil-worship" by Muslims and Islamists.[1] [2] [6] [7] Yazidis have been persecuted by the surrounding Muslims since the medieval ages, most notably by Safavids, Ottomans, neighbouring Muslim Arab and Kurdish tribes and principalities.[1] [8] [9] After the 2014 Sinjar massacre of thousands of Yazidis by ISIL, which started the ethnic, cultural, and religious genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq,[1] Yazidis still face discrimination from the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Early persecution

After some Kurdish tribes became Islamized in the 10th century, they joined in the persecution of Yazidis in the Hakkari mountains.[10] [11] Due to their religion, Muslim Kurds persecuted and attacked the Yazidis with particular brutality.[10] [2] [11] [12] Sometimes, during these massacres, Muslim Kurds tried to force the Yazidis to convert to Islam.[13] [14] [11] Almost the whole Yazidi population were nearly wiped out by massacres carried out by Muslim Kurds and Turks in the 19th century.[15] [16]

13th century

In 1254, Sheikh Adī’s grand-nephew al-Ḥasan b. ‘Adī together with 200 of his supporters were executed by Badr al-Din Lu'Lu, who was an Armenian convert to Islam and Zangid governor of Mosul, Sheikh Adi's tomb at Lalish was then desecrated.

15th century

In 1415, a Shāfi‘ī theologian, ‘Izz al-Dīn al Hulwānī, with the military support of the Sunni Kurds of the Sindi tribe and the lord of Ḥiṣn Kayfā, attacked Lalish and burnt down the temple. The Yazidis later rebuilt their temple and the tomb of Sheikh Adi.[17] [18]

16th century

In the year 1585, the Yazidis in the Sinjar mountain were attacked by the Sunni Kurds from Bohtan.[19]

19th century

In the year 1832, about 70,000 Yazidis were killed by the Sunni Kurdish princes Bedir Khan Beg and Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz.[20] During his research trips in 1843, the Russian traveller and orientalist Ilya Berezin mentioned that 7,000 Yazidis were killed by Kurds of Rawandiz on the hills of Nineveh near Mosul, shortly before his arrival.[21] According to many historical reports, the Bedir Khan massacres can today be classified as a genocide.[22]

In 1831, Muhammad Pasha massacred the people of the Kellek village. He then went northward and attacked the entire Yazidi-inhabited foothill country which was located east of Mosul. Some Yazidis managed to take refuge in the neighboring forests and mountain fastnesses, and a few of them managed to escape to distant places.[23] In 1832, Muhammad Pasha and his troops committed a massacre against the Yazidis in Khatarah. Subsequently, they attacked the Yazidis in Shekhan and killed many of them.[24] In another attempt he and his troops occupied over 300 Yazidi villages. The emir kidnapped over 10,000 Yazidis and sent them to Rawandiz and gave them the ultimatum of converting to Islam or being killed. Most of them converted to Islam and those who refused to convert to Islam were killed.[25]

In 1832, Bedir Khan Beg and his troops committed a massacre against the Yazidis in Shekhan. His men almost killed the whole Yazidi population of Shekhan. Some Yazidis tried to escape to Sinjar.[26] [27] [28] When they attempted to escape towards Sinjar, many of them drowned in the Tigris river. Those who could not swim were killed. About 12,000 Yazidis were killed on the bank of the Tigris river by Bedir Khan Beg's men. Yazidi women and children were also kidnapped.[29]

In 1833, the Yazidis who lived in the Aqrah region were again attacked by Muhammad Pasha and his soldiers. The perpetrators killed 500 Yazidis in the Greater Zab. Afterwards, Muhammad Pasha and his troops attacked the Yazidis who lived in Sinjar and killed many of them.[30]

In 1844, Bedir Khan Beg and his men committed a massacre against the Yazidis in the Tur Abdin region. His men also captured many Yazidis and forced them to convert to Islam. The inhabitants of seven Yazidi villages were all forced to convert to Islam.

Many Yazidis also defended themselves against the attacks. So did Ali Beg, the Yazidi leader in Sheikhan. The Yazidi leader Ali Beg mobilized his forces in order to oppose Muhammad Pasha, who mobilized the Kurdish tribes which lived in the surrounding mountains in order to launch an attack against the Yazidis. Ali Beg's troops were outnumbered and he was captured and killed by Muhammad Pasha.

Late 19th century

After the Ottomans had given the Yazidis a certain legal status in 1849 through repeated interventions by Stratford Canning and Sir Austen Henry Layard,[31] they sent their Ottoman general Omar Wahbi Pasha (later known as "Ferîq Pasha" in the memory of the Yazidis) in 1890[32] or 1892 from Mosul to the Yazidis in Shaikhan and again gave the Yazidis an ultimatum to convert to Islam. When the Yazidis refused, the areas of Sinjar and Shaykhan were occupied and another massacre committed among the residents. The Ottoman rulers mobilized the Hamidiye cavalry, later founded in 1891, to take action against the Yazidis. Many Yazidi villages were attacked by the Hamidiye cavalry and the residents were killed. The Yazidi villages of Bashiqa and Bahzani were also raided and many Yazidi temples were destroyed. The Yazidi Mir Ali Beg was captured and held in Kastamonu. The central shrine of the Yazidis Lalish was converted into a Quran school. This condition lasted for twelve years until the Yazidis were able to recapture their main shrine Lalish.

20th century

During the Armenian genocide, many Yazidis were killed by Hamidiye cavalry.[33] According to Aziz Tamoyan, as many as 300,000 Yazidis were killed with the Armenians, while others fled to Transcaucasia.[34]

Despite the fact that the Yazidis hid 20,000 Christians from the Ottomans in the Sinjar Mountains during the Armenian genocide[35] and many Yazidis found refuge in Armenia as they fled from the Kurds and Turks, the Yazidis were discriminated against in Armenia. Yazidi children tended to hide their identities in schools so they would not be discriminated against.[36] Furthermore, the term "Yezidi" is often used by non-Yazidis as an insult.[37]

In 1921, Yazidis in the Kingdom of Iraq under British rule were oppressed and attacked by the British army. The British Army attacked Yazidi villages between 1925 and 1935, killing over 100 Yazidis, including a Yazidi leader.[38] According to Arbella Bet-Shlimon, in 1935 the Iraqi Army attacked eleven Yazidi villages, placed Sinjar under martial law, and then sentenced many Yazidi prisoners to death or to long sentences because they had resisted mandatory conscription; some of the prisoners were even paraded in front of a jeering crowd in Mosul that killed one of the captives.[39]

21st century

See main article: Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL. In the 21st century, Yazidis faced targeted violence from insurgents during the Iraq War, including an April 2007 massacre that killed 23, and the 2007 Yazidi communities bombings, which killed 796. The Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ) was set up to defend Yazidis in the aftermath of these attacks.[40]

The genocide of Yazidis by ISIL, which began with the 2014 Sinjar massacre, led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of the Yazidis from their ancestral lands in Sinjar. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by the Sunni fundamentalist majority-Arab terrorist group ISIL, and thousands of Yazidi men were killed.[41] Five thousand Yazidi civilians were killed[42] during what has been called a "forced conversion campaign"[43] [44] being carried out by ISIL in Northern Iraq. The genocide began after the withdrawal of the KRG's Peshmerga militia, which left the Yazidis defenseless.[45] [46] Among the reasons for the Peshmerga's retreat was the unwillingness of the Sunnis in the ranks to fight fellow Muslims in the defence of Yazidis.[47] ISIL's persecution of the Yazidis gained international attention and led to another American-led intervention in Iraq, which started with United States airstrikes against ISIL. Kurdistan Workers' Party, People's Protection Units, and Syriac Military Council fighters then opened a humanitarian corridor to the Sinjar Mountains.[48] [49] [50] [51]

Since 2016, many Yazidis in Syria have fled from the Afrin region to the relative safety of the secular Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria,[52] because of fears of persecution by the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, an overwhelmingly Sunni militia.[53] [54]

Kurdistan Region

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, the Kurdish authorities have used heavy-handed tactics against the Yazidis and was accused of kidnapping and beating two Yazidi men belonging to the Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress who criticized the actions of the authorities. After the Kurdish authorities kidnapped them, they gave them two options, either they would accept that they were Kurds or they would confess that they were "terrorists". In addition, the Kurdish officers asked which language they speak. When the Yazidis replied "Yazidi", they were further tortured.[55]

There have also been some demographic changes in Yazidi-majority areas after the fall of Saddam. In the Sheikhan area, which is considered a historic Yazidi stronghold, the Kurdish authorities have allegedly settled Sunni Kurds to strengthen their claim that it should be included within the Kurdistan Region.[56] In modern times, Kurdistan Region is accused of taking over traditional Yazidi settlements.[56] [57]

According to Yazidi activists reports, since 2003 about 30 Yazidi women and girls were kidnapped and forcibly married with members of the Kurdish security force Asayish.[58]

Ideological basis

All of the massacres of the Yazidis were committed by the Muslim side.During their history, the Yazidis have mostly been under the pressure of their Muslim neighbors, which led to violence and massacres at times.

Kurdish muftis have given the persecution of Yazidis a religious character and they have also legalized it. Also Kurdish mullahs such as Mahmud Bayazidi viewed the Yazidis as unbelievers.[2]

Yazidi view of the persecutions

Remembering persecution is a central part of Yazidi identity.[59] The Yazidis speak of 74 genocides of them in their history and call these genocides "Farman". The number of 72 Farman can be derived from the oral traditions and folk songs of the Yazidis.[60] [61] The last Farman is number 74 and denotes the genocide of the Yazidis by the IS terrorists.[62] [11] [12] [63]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Encyclopedia: Allison . Christine . 25 January 2017 . The Yazidis . Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion . . . 10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.254 . 9780199340378 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190311065225/https://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-254 . 11 March 2019 . live . 15 May 2021.
  2. Book: Asatrian . Garnik S. . Garnik Asatrian . Arakelova . Victoria . 2014 . The Religion of the Peacock Angel: The Yezidis and Their Spirit World . Part I: The One God - Malak-Tāwūs: The Leader of the Triad . https://books.google.com/books?id=y1RsBAAAQBAJ . . . Gnostica . 1–28 . 10.4324/9781315728896 . 978-1-84465-761-2 . 931029996.
  3. Book: Acikyildiz, Birgul. The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. 2014-08-20. Bloomsbury Academic. 978-1-78453-216-1. en.
  4. Encyclopedia: Yazidis i: General. Allison. Christine. 20 February 2004. Encyclopædia Iranica. 20 August 2010.
  5. Book: Nelida Fuccaro . The Other Kurds: Yazidis in Colonial Iraq . 1999 . I. B. Tauris . London & New York . 1860641709 . 9.
  6. Book: van Bruinessen. Martin. Kreyenbroek. Philip G.. Sperl. Stefan. The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview. 1992. Routledge. London. 978-0-415-07265-6. 26–52. https://books.google.com/books?id=JZ6JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29. Chapter 2: Kurdish society, ethnicity, nationalism and refugee problems. 919303390.
  7. News: Jalabi. Raya. 2014-08-11. Who are the Yazidis and why is Isis hunting them?. en-GB. The Guardian. 2020-12-01. 0261-3077.
  8. Book: Guest. Survival Among The Kurds. 2012-11-12. Routledge. 978-1-136-15736-3. en.
  9. Evliya Çelebi, The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman: Melek Ahmed Pasha (1588–1662), Translated by Robert Dankoff, 304 pp., SUNY Press, 1991;, pp. 169–171
  10. Book: Naby, Eden. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. https://web.archive.org/web/20201023141910/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/print/opr/t236/e1282. dead. October 23, 2020. Oxford University Press. 2009. 9780195305135. Esposito. John. John Esposito. Yazīdīs. Eden Naby.
  11. Kizilhan . Jan Ilhan . Noll-Hussong . Michael . Individual, collective, and transgenerational traumatization in the Yazidi . BMC Medicine . 2017 . 15 . 1 . 198 . 10.1186/s12916-017-0965-7 . 29224572 . 5724300 . 1741-7015. free .
  12. Book: Hosseini . S. Behnaz . Trauma and the Rehabilitation of Trafficked Women: The Experiences of Yazidi Survivors . 2020 . Routledge . 978-1-000-07869-5 .
  13. Book: Orient-Institut. Deutsches. Population policy in Turkey: family planning and migration between 1960 and 1992. Franz. Erhard. 1994. Deutsches Orient-Institut. 9783891730348. 332. Throughout history, there was no shortage of attempts by Kurdish Muslims to violently convert the Yazidis to Islam..
  14. Book: Non-State Violent Actors and Social Movement Organizations: Influence, Adaptation, and Change. 2017-04-26. Emerald Group Publishing. 9781787147287. 75.
  15. Book: Travis, Hannibal. Genocide in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire, Iraq, and Sudan. 2010. Carolina Academic Press. 9781594604362. The Yazidis were nearly wiped out in massacres which were committed against them by Turks and Kurds..
  16. Book: Ghareeb. Edmund A.. Historical Dictionary of Iraq. Dougherty. Beth. 2004-03-18. Scarecrow Press. 9780810865686. 248. Massacres at the hands of the Ottoman Turks and Kurdish princes almost wiped out the Yazidis during the 19th century.. registration.
  17. Book: Acikyildiz, Birgul. The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. 2014-08-20. I.B.Tauris. 9781784532161. 45. en.
  18. Web site: Die Religionsgemeinschaft der Yezidi: Weh dem, der nicht ans Höllenfeuer glaubt - Qantara.de. Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt. 30 August 2007 . de.
  19. Web site: Yazīdīs - Oxford Islamic Studies Online. https://web.archive.org/web/20201023141910/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/print/opr/t236/e1282. dead. October 23, 2020. 2022-01-09. www.oxfordislamicstudies.com.
  20. News: Steinvorth. Daniel. 2016-12-22. Jagd auf den Engel Pfau NZZ. de-CH. Neue Zürcher Zeitung. 2019-09-30. 0376-6829.
  21. Web site: Field. Henry. 1951. Appendix A: A visit to the Yezidis in 1843 by Ilya Berezin, in The Anthropology of Iraq. 2019-09-30. iiif.lib.harvard.edu. 76.
  22. Book: King, Diane E.. Kurdistan on the Global Stage: Kinship, Land, and Community in Iraq. 2013-12-31. Rutgers University Press. 978-0-8135-6354-1. 187. en.
  23. Book: Jwaideh, Wadie. The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development. 2006-06-19. Syracuse University Press. 978-0-8156-3093-7. en.
  24. Book: Jwaideh, Wadie. The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development. 2006. Syracuse University Press. 9780815630937. en.
  25. Book: NEBEZ, Jemal. Der kurdische Fürst MĪR MUHAMMAD AL-RAWĀNDIZĪ genannt MĪR-Ī KŌRA: Ein Beitrag zur kurdischen Geschichte. 2017-08-14. epubli. 9783745011258. de.
  26. Book: Barbara Henning. Narratives of the History of the Ottoman-Kurdish Bedirhani Family. 2018. 978-3863095512. 99. University of Bamberg Press .
  27. Book: Acikyildiz, Birgul. The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. 2014-08-20. I.B.Tauris. 9781784532161. 52. en.
  28. Book: Lescot, Roger. Enquête sur les Yezidis de Syrie et du Djebel Sindjār [microform]]. 1938. Beyrouth : [Institut français de Damas]. Internet Archive. 125. fr.
  29. Web site: Tagay. Sefik. Ortac. Serhat. Die Eziden und das Ezidentum – Geschichte und Gegenwart einer vom Untergang bedrohten Religion. 49–50. de.
  30. Book: Ateş, Sabri. Ottoman-Iranian Borderlands: Making a Boundary, 1843-1914. 2013-10-21. Cambridge University Press. 9781107033658. en.
  31. Web site: Allison. Christine. The Yazidis. 2020-12-01. 4.
  32. Book: Acikyildiz, Birgul. The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. 2014-08-20. Bloomsbury Academic. 978-1-78453-216-1. 56. en.
  33. Book: Maisel, Sebastian. The Kurds: An Encyclopedia of Life, Culture, and Society. 2018-06-30. ABC-CLIO. 9781440842573. 266. en.
  34. Book: Rezvani, Babak. Ethno-territorial conflict and coexistence in the caucasus, Central Asia and Fereydan: academisch proefschrift. 2014-03-15. Amsterdam University Press. 9789048519286. 145. en.
  35. Book: Lescot, Roger. Enquête sur les Yezidis de Syrie et du Djebel Sindjār [microform]]. 1938. Beyrouth : [Institut français de Damas]. Internet Archive. 127–128. fr.
  36. Web site: Armenia 2019 International Religious Freedom Report. United States Department of State. 7.
  37. Web site: Alternative report on Armenia's implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 8.
  38. Web site: Suha. Hazeem Hassen. 2016. Investigating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence as a Weapon of War and a Tool of Genocide against Indigenous Yazidi Women and Girls by ISIS in Iraq. Oregon State University. 17.
  39. Web site: Bet-Shlimon. Arbella. October 2022. Military State: Iraq Faces an Ongoing Crisis of Sovereignty 90 Years After Independence. History Today.
  40. 2009-11-10. On Vulnerable Ground. 2020-12-01. Human Rights Watch. en.
  41. News: Turkish Airstrike in Iraqi Territory Kills a Kurdish Militant Leader. Callimachi. Rukmini. 16 August 2018. New York Times. https://web.archive.org/web/20181021073815/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/world/middleeast/turkish-airstrike-in-iraqi-territory-kills-a-kurdish-militant-leader.html. 21 October 2018. live.
  42. Cetorelli. Valeria. Mortality and kidnapping estimates for the Yazidi population in the area of Mount Sinjar, Iraq, in August 2014: A retrospective household survey. PLOS Medicine. 14. 5. e1002297. 9 May 2017. 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002297. 28486492. 5423550 . free .
  43. From Sinjar massacre: Cetorelli. Valeria. Mortality and kidnapping estimates for the Yazidi population in the area of Mount Sinjar, Iraq, in August 2014: A retrospective household survey. PLOS Medicine. 9 May 2017. 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002297. 5423550. 28486492. 14. 5. e1002297 . free .
  44. News: Arraf. Jane. 7 August 2014. Islamic State persecution of Yazidi minority amounts to genocide, UN says. The Christian Science Monitor. https://web.archive.org/web/20140808154839/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2014/0807/Islamic-State-persecution-of-Yazidi-minority-amounts-to-genocide-UN-says-video. 8 August 2014. 8 August 2014.
  45. News: Blair. David. Isil's Yazidi 'mass conversion' video fails to hide brutal duress. 24 August 2014. The Telegraph. 6 June 2015. London. https://web.archive.org/web/20140823110541/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/11049393/Isils-Yazidi-mass-conversion-video-fails-to-hide-brutal-duress.html. 23 August 2014. live.
  46. From Sinjar massacre: News: Blair. David. Isil's Yazidi 'mass conversion' video fails to hide brutal duress. 24 August 2014. The Telegraph. 6 June 2015. London.
  47. Book: Phillips, David L.. The Great Betrayal: How America Abandoned the Kurds and Lost the Middle East. 2018-11-29. Bloomsbury Publishing. 9781786735768. en.
  48. Book: Murad, Nadia. The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State. 2017-11-07. Crown/Archetype. 9781524760458. en.
  49. Web site: Freeing Yazidi Women: Combating a 21st Century Slavery Revival Project Wilson Center. 2020-12-01. www.wilsoncenter.org. en.
  50. Book: Phillips, David L.. The Kurdish Spring: A New Map of the Middle East. 2017-07-05. Routledge. 9781351480369. en.
  51. Web site: ISIS Terror: One Yazidi's Battle to Chronicle the Death of a People. MSNBC. 23 November 2015. 17 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160316115552/http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-uncovered/isis-terror-one-yazidis-battle-chronicle-death-people-n461566. 16 March 2016. live.
  52. The 2014 Yazidi genocide and its effect on Yazidi diaspora. The Lancet. 390. 10106. 1946. Tagay. Sefik. Ayhan. Dogan. Catani. Claudia. Schnyder. Ulrich. Teufel. Martin. 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32701-0. 29115224. 2017. 40913754 .
  53. Web site: Assyrians in Kurdistan arm themselves. 2020-12-01. Nationalia. ca.
  54. Web site: Hundreds of Yazidis Displaced Amid Turkey's Incursion in Northeast Syria Voice of America - English. 2020-12-01. www.voanews.com. 16 October 2019 . en.
  55. Yezidis in Iraq and Syria Fear Fresh Persecution After Turkey's Offensive. 2020-12-01. Time.
  56. News: Pir. Hadi. 2019-10-17. Opinion Trump's Syria Exit Puts Yazidis in Peril. en-US. Wall Street Journal. 2020-12-01. 0099-9660.
  57. 2009-11-10. On Vulnerable Ground Violence against Minority Communities in Nineveh Province's Disputed Territories. Human Rights Watch. en. In one incident, Kurdish intelligence officers arrested two Yazidi activists, Khalil Rashu Alias and Wageed Mendo Hamoo, in May 2007. The two told Human Rights Watch that Kurdish authorities imprisoned the pair for almost six months and tortured them for resisting what they called the Kurdish colonization of their territory in Sinjar..
  58. Web site: Documentation. Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and. 2017-10-02. Anfragebeantwortung zum Irak: Lage der JesidInnen, insbesondere in der Provinz Ninawa [a-10353]]. 2019-06-19. www.ecoi.net. de.
  59. Book: Shanks, Kelsey. Education and Ethno-Politics: Defending Identity in Iraq. 2015-11-19. Routledge. 9781317520429. en.
  60. Web site: Documentation. Austrian Centre for Country of Origin & Asylum Research and. 2012-06-27. Anfragebeantwortung zum Irak: Lage der Jesiden in Mosul; IFA [a-8101]]. 2020-12-26. www.ecoi.net. de.
  61. Web site: Yazidi survivors of ISIS rape told children unwelcome Stephen Quillen. 2020-12-05. AW. en.
  62. Book: Savucu, Halil. Yeziden in Deutschland: Eine Religionsgemeinschaft zwischen Tradition, Integration und Assimilation. 2016-10-10. Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag. 978-3-8288-6547-1. de.
  63. Book: Kartal, Celalettin. Deutsche Yeziden: Geschichte, Gegenwart, Prognosen. 2016-06-22. Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag. 978-3-8288-6488-7. de.
  64. News: 2018-09-04. Iraq Yazidis: The 'forgotten' people of an unforgettable story. en-GB. BBC News. 2020-12-05.

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