Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

[Anthea]

Australian home for hundreds of Yazidis

Yazidi man Aedo is originally from Northern Iraq but now calls a regional Australian city home

"Armidale is very friendly, they respect us, they help us, they help us in everything,” he tells SBS News.

“So, I like living in Armidale and Australia."

It's been almost three years since about 600 Yazidi refugees from Northern Iraq and Syria began resettling in Australia, many fleeing trauma after persecution by the IS terror group.

One of the resettlement areas was Armidale, where the community has embraced its new migrants.

Aedo, who arrived two years ago, is now helping transform a plot of land just outside of the town into prime pasture, as part of a new agriculture initiative set up for the Yazidi community.

"What we're trying to achieve is help them realise their place in Armidale, through acquisition of skills and using those skills to gain employment,” says Lance McNamara from Northern Settlement Services.

Aedo hopes the opportunity will help him secure stable employment in Australia.

"The first thing I get is experience, so I know how work will be like and I can get the best work every day,” he says.

The land was donated by members of the local rotary club to give the Yazidi community, who typically worked on the land, a place of their own to farm.

Peter Lloyd from Armidale Rotary says members of his organisation have been stunned by the rapid progress the community has made in transforming the plot.

"It's absolutely amazing, 250 metres of fencing disappeared in a couple of hours,” he says.

“The speed of work, efficiency, and the degree of learning is quite impressive."

Resettlement program

Armidale, which has a population of about 25,000, was selected as a regional resettlement site by the Turnbull Government in August 2017, with the first refugees from Syria and Iraq arriving just over six months later.

Mr Lloyd says the way the families have been settled has helped them assimilate into the wider community.

"The families are being distributed, if you like, with their homes quite separated within the township and many families, their neighbours are taking everyone under their wings,” he says.

“There's a lot of exchanges, especially of recipes!”

“There's a lot of Yazidi bread that's being consumed in Armidale and a lot of other things [happening] that are really beneficial in a social sense, a language sense, and also an educational sense."

Yazidi cuisine has become a highlight at one local hotel.

The Minnie Barn, which opened at the beginning of this year, has employed Yazidi chefs to cook up a unique menu.

The dishes have proved popular, even during periods impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

“We knew about the Yazidi community, we approached them, and we found a couple of guys that were willing to come on board,” says Comfort City Inn manager Phil Mitchell.

“It was a bit of a struggle from the start with the language barriers and working out how to operate a professional kitchen with them. But a couple of months in, it's really taking off."

Strong foundation

Salam Qaro and his wife Fryal Khalaf arrived in Australia in July 2019. Since settling in Armidale, the family has thrived.

“I was surprised because the physical aspects of Armidale are similar to my hometown, where I was living in Northern Iraq,” Salam says.

“I noticed that Armidale was so quiet, and also the people were welcoming, and I feel safe with my family here.”

The rest of his family remain in Northern Iraq, where they have faced persecution, he says. Some are still missing or were killed by IS.

"Two uncles of mine are missing by ISIS, and also my grandmother, my cousin was killed by ISIS, and no-one cared about that.”

“In my country, there is no future for anyone, especially for the Yazidi community, because the Yazidi community is all the time living very dangerous situations."

While he Fryal were able to settle in Armidale as refugees, applications to bring other family members to Australia on humanitarian grounds have not been successful.

“We received it with a declined outcome by [the Department of] Immigration. We don’t know why, and we are still asking why,” he says.

While his psychology degree is not recognised in Australia, Salam now helps settle other refugees in the area and is planning to build a house of his own with Fryal.

In June, the family also expanded when they welcomed baby Sama.

"We were lucky with Sama, she was born in Australia and she is an Australian citizen now,” he says.

“She will have a good future in Australia."

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/how-a-regio ... i-refugees

[Anthea]

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL

Hundreds of Kurdish women kidnapped and transferred to Libya

An International appeal has been launched to rescue hundreds of Kurdish women and girls that have been kidnapped by jihadist mercenaries in northern Syria and taken to Libya to be sold as sex slaves.

A shocking new report also describes a gruesome pile-up of womens’ bodies after their execution by Turkish-backed militia.

“The fugitives from Afrin speak of Afrin hospitals littered with the corpses of kidnapped women and children, [killed] after being accused of terrorism and threatening the security of the Turkish state,” said Ibrahim Sheikho, director of the Afrin Organisation for Human Rights.

Others are raped and sexually abused by the jihadists, who take the women prisoner while fighting as part of Turkish-backed militia on the side of Libya’s UN-supported government.

According to the Afrin Report news network, Salwa Ahmed Shasho, a young Kurdish girl from the village of Dar Kara, was kidnapped and taken to Turkey where she was to be sold as a sex slave to Qatari merchants and transferred to Libya.

She was rescued by her family, but according to those on the ground hundreds have been kidnapped and trafficked via Turkey.

One Kurdish man with the pseudonym Bengin Darwish explained: “The captives are transported to Turkey either through the military crossing (Hawar Kilis) at the Syrian-Turkish border or through the border village of al-Khalil with Turkey, as well as from the military post (Al- Hamam) in the district of Jindersse, which links Afrin to the Turkish state.”

Women’s organisations in the largely Kurdish enclave known of Western Kurdistan have called for the international community to take action to secure the safe return of those kidnapped and have drawn comparisons with the treatment of Yazidi women in Sinjar in 2014.

More than 3,000 women and girls remain missing after being abducted by ISIS as it swept to power across large swathes of Syria and Iraq.

They have been abandoned by the international community despite the United Nations designating the slaughter and kidnappings as a genocide.

More than 1,000 women and girls are believed to be missing from the Afrin canton, which has been subject to invasion and subsequent occupation by Turkey and its jihadist allies following the Turkish army’s Operation Olive Branch in 2018.

The Missing Afrin Women Project maps the details of those kidnapped, with some of them held by mercenaries for a ransom before being returned to their communities.

In May, the Morning Star reported the discovery of a “torture camp” in Afrin where mainly Kurdish and Yazidi women were held by militia from the Hamza Division.

Amid allegations of rape and sexual abuse, footage circulated on social media appearing to show the women being stripped naked and tortured in the northern Syrian camps.

According to Afrin News report a network of such camps has been established across the canton.

“After Turkey occupied Afrin … institutions and schools turned into secret hostage centres. Testimonies from survivors have revealed that violent crimes of rape have stained the ground,” it said.

But the kidnappings have been deemed “legal” by the occupying forces, with Turkey’s courts complicit in the detention at torture camps.

A UN report in February found that Turkish-backed militia were guilty of the “war crimes of hostage-taking, cruel treatment, torture and pillage” in Afrin.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article ... rred-libya

[Anthea]

Yazidi man with cancer studies
at Mosul medical school

SHARIA CAMP, Kurdistan Region – Salim Sleman and his fighting spirit are defying the odds. He achieved high marks and this year enrolled in the College of Medicine at Mosul University, despite living in a camp in Duhok province, unable to return to his home in Shingal, and battling blood cancer

“I did not lose hope while I was receiving treatment,” he said.

His treatment in India, however, is costly. The family has borrowed $60,000 from relatives to cover costs so far, but is worried about being able to pay for further treatment and doctor’s visits.

“His doctor told me if I don’t take him abroad [to see his doctor] within a month, my son will die,” said his father Sleman Seydo.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/people-places/26122020

[Anthea]

Yazidi woman reunited with family in Duhok

A Yazidi woman, once in ISIS captivity, arrived in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province on Sunday to be reunited with her family, two months after being rescued from a camp from northeast Syria (Western Kurdistan)



Rafida Naif Issa, 22, was abducted by the Islamic State (ISIS) when the group attacked her hometown in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in the summer of 2014.

Issa was found in al-Hol camp in Hasaka, Western Kurdistan in October when she was moved to a Jazira branch of the Yazidi House, an umbrella organisation for the protection of the ethnoreligious minority's people and culture.

Issa's mother, Ilhan Yousif Mato, visited Western Kurdistan one week ago to be reunited with her. They both came back to Duhok province on Sunday, where the young woman was officially handed over and reunited with the rest of her family.

“I am very happy. I have not seen her for seven years,” her mother told Rudaw.

Issa spoke good Kurdish, but did not want to speak to media about her traumatic experience.

According to the Office for Abducted Yazidi Affairs, affiliated to President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani, there are as many as 500 Yazidis at al-Hol – home to thousands of families suspected to have links with ISIS.

Hussein Qyi, head of the office told Rudaw that they have rescued 3,543 of the Yazidis that were held in ISIS captivity, but 2,872 still remain missing.

Another Yazidi woman, 27-year-old Nasrin Ibrahim, was reunited with her family in Duhok in late November after being rescued from al-Hol.

Abdullah Shiren, based in both Shingal and Duhok, has faciltated the rescue of 399 Yazidi women and girls since November 2014, when he help rescue his own niece from ISIS captivity.

Shiren told Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen on Sunday that his rescue work has become more difficult because ISIS is now spread over a wider area, albeit more thinly.

“When Daesh [ISIS] was destroyed we thought we would be relieved, but actually our work became harder... Daesh used to be present in some specific areas, but now they have spread over cities, villages, camps and countries.”

However, rescues of Yazidis have become less costly.

“When Daesh was in control of Baghouz, Raqqa and other places, we spent a large amount of money which ranged from $5000 to $10,000 [per case]," Shiren said. "Sometimes it was even higher. But the cost is not high anymore, thanks to al-Hol camp, Yazidi House and the Western Kurdistan [administration].”

Asked what is hindering the release of Yazidi women and girls still at al-Hol, Shiren said they have been “brainwashed” by other residents of the camp who are affiliated with ISIS, who tell them "that life is better in the camp."

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/28122020

[Anthea]

Odds are against disabled students

Eight-year-old Chinar Haji lives at the Sardasht IDP camp in Shingal, and has special needs. She is one of the lucky few disabled IDP children at Sardasht who can go to school



"My friends respect me because I have special needs. They never hurt me," Chnar said. "I'm very happy that I go to school. I want to be a doctor in the future so that I can heal people like me who have special needs".

There are roughly 250 children with special needs in Shingal’s IDP camps, according to Shingal's Directorate of Education. Only 25 are able to go to school because of a lack of tailored support for disabled students. About 600 displaced children live in Sardasht camp, according to Shingal's Office of Displacement and Migration, and 34 of them of have special needs.

Faris Sheikh Bahri is father to Abeer, a girl with special needs who is not going to school.

"We want her to go to school and learn like everyone else. My wife and I tried a lot but the school did not register her. They told us the education directorate won't accept it," Faris said.

Shingal’s identified special needs children are aged between six to 18, and most have lost a limb. The education directorate does not allow children who cannot walk to go school.

Officials at the education directorate said they are trying their best to enrol the children at schools.

"Children with special needs have the right to finish their studies. But our schools don’t accept them because we don’t have the ability to take care of them. They need a special school", said Saad Hamad Mato, the directorate's head of Arabic studies.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/281220202

[Anthea]

New Year hopes for 2021

The people of Shingal rang in the New Year with their first big celebration in years, since the genocide and Islamic State (ISIS)



“2020 was miserable, but I hope 2021 will be a happy year for all Yazidis,” said reveler Halima Semo.

In 2014, ISIS militants attacked Shingal and committed genocide against the Yazidi minority. After ISIS was defeated, the area was controlled by several different armed groups. Late last year, it came under federal Iraqi control after the governments in Erbil and Baghdad reached a historic agreement over the disputed area.

“2021 is the best year we’ve seen since the genocide. God willing, it will bring joy to the people of Shingal,” said Hamo Salim at the celebration that brought local singers home from abroad to perform to a crowd that included many people still living in displacement camps.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/culture/02012021

[Anthea]

Fire burns 11 tents in Yazidi camp

Eleven tents were burned to the ground in an overnight fire at a camp housing displaced Yazidis in Duhok province on Saturday. The head of the camp said they will compensate the victims who lost property



“At 2:30 [in the morning], a fire broke out in the space between the tens due to an electrical circuit. It is not clear how it happened,” Maamun Yahya, head of Chamshko camp, told Rudaw English.

One of the victims said he lost $13,000 cash, passports, identity and citizenship cards of the family. “When the fire took place, I was at work. They [my family] called me at around 4am to inform me that our tent had burned down. My wife could only save herself and the children,” he told Rudaw.

Another said he lost $10,000 cash and all their furnishing.

Chamshko is home to 22,800 Yazidis who fled their homes in Shingal district in 2014 when Islamic State (ISIS) fighters attacked the area.

Every year, there are fires and floods in the many displacement camps in the Kurdistan Region.

Yahya said they have warned the residents of the camp several times about the dangers from ad hoc electrical wiring and have visited each tent to explain to people how to prevent accidents and fires. Life is difficult in the camps, especially during cold winters.

The head of the camp said they will compensate the victims with new tents and home appliances in cooperation with humanitarian organizations, especially the Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF).

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/020120211

[Anthea]

Yazidi woman commits suicide

A 20-year-old Yazidi woman found dead in her tent at a camp for the internally displaced in Duhok province on Monday had committed suicide, her brother told Rudaw



Asmahan Khidir was found hanging from a rope noose in her tent in Esyan Camp in Duhok’s Shekhan district, according to her brother Ilyas, who said she had committed suicide.

Asmahan and her family fled their hometown of Shingal in 2014, when the Islamic State (ISIS) swept through the district.

“She got married last year but the marriage ended in eight months,” Ilyas told Rudaw on Monday.

Asmahan moved back in with her parents when the marriage ended, Ilyas said.

Local police were investigating the incident whose cause was “not clear”, Karwan Zaki, head of media for Duhok’s migration directorate told Rudaw earlier on Monday.

Hemin Sulaiman, spokesperson for Duhok police, refused to comment on Asmahan’s death “because we do not think it is good to publish such stories”.

Rudaw’s team in Duhok was denied access to the incident area by the camp administration.

The all-Yazidi Esyan camp is home to 13,408 people, living in 3,003 tents. The camp was established in 2014, according to camp head Saadullah Abdullah.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/040120212

[Anthea]

Helping create sustainable livelihoods

Iraq has faced years of political instability and conflict which has meant that thousands of Yazidis have fled their homes in search of safety. Recently, many Yazidi people have returned to their homes in liberated areas, and are living in poverty without a source of income. Islamic Relief have been working with returnee Yazidis and host communities to promote prosperity, harmony and strength

Supporting families in Sinjar and Hamadaniya

Islamic Relief’s project ‘Immediate Livelihoods Support for Recovery and Resilience Building’ is working with Yazidi and Christian returnee and host communities in Sinjar and Hamadaniya.

We are working with farmers and animal-breeders, as well as focusing on supporting young people and women by creating sustainable, long-lasting income opportunities and employment. We are also working to strengthen the capacity of national institutions, as these are integral to smooth recovery and resilience building.

Islamic Relief have supported 50 young people from Sinjar and Hamadaniya with long-term business opportunities. We delivered business development training and provided them with enterprise tool kits. In this way, we not only increased their knowledge about establishing a business, but also provided them with the tools to begin their own work in their respective fields.

We also delivered essential training and provided 100 farmers from Sinjar and Hamadaniya with seeds, fertiliser, fuel and farming tools, as well as providing women in the region with sheep and fodder.

Not only are agriculture and livestock important parts of income generation for vulnerable families in Iraq, but they are also integral for nutrition in a country where millions of people do not know where their next meal is coming from.

Nasra’s story

20- year- old Nasra is the sole breadwinner in her family, and has immense responsibility for taking care of her whole family, including her disabled mother and brother. In 2015, the family lost their home as it was attacked by ISIS, and they were forced to flee to Sinjar, among thousands of other displaced people.

Nasra received training and support from Islamic Relief to help her establish a sustainable income for herself and her family.

“The training offered by Islamic Relief was very beneficial, as it improved my knowledge and experience of raising livestock and earning profits. Most importantly, I now have a source of income raising sheep and I am able to support my family”, says Nasra.

Islamic relief has been operating in Iraq since 1997 and helped improve life for hundreds of thousands of people, affected by war, displacement and poverty.

https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/helpi ... hoods-iraq

[Anthea]

The Genocide Continues

Bomb them, shoot them, chase them from there lands, invade their lands under the pretext of offering support, separate them from their families, send them to different countries, soon there will be no Yazidis left and EVERYONE in EVERY is guilty of this horrendous GENOCIDE

Hundreds of Yazidi families separated between Iraq and Europe as loved ones seek safety abroad - because the rest of the world has contributed to making the Yazidi homeland unsafe and uninhabitable - from the ISIS genocide, the coalition bombs that destroyed most of the property (the coalition while happy to drop bombs have failed to help rebuild what they had destroyed) to the assorted armed groups claiming rights to Yazidi land

The brutal takeover of the Yazidi heartland of Shingal by the Islamic State (ISIS) in August 2014 has led to more than 400 families separated across continents.

Many Yazidi families have at least one family member in Europe, according to Jaafar Simo, the head of Office for Yazidi Affairs in Duhok.

According to data from Simo's office, more than 100,000 Yazidis have left for Europe since 2014.

In 2017, 1,088 Yazidis moved to Germany, of which 850 were rescued from ISIS captivity, with the help of Simo's office.

Upwards of 6,000 women and children were taken captive by ISIS as it took Shingal in August 2014, committing genocide against the ethnoreligious community.

Hazim Kacho and his wife migrated to Germany in January 2019, before coming back to Shingal in August of the same year.

They say they found it difficult to live far from their children.

"We went to Germany but decided to come back, not because we did not like it, but because is our country is more pleasant for us. We stayed there for seven months. It is very difficult to live a life where your children are not around,” he told Rudaw on Monday.

Hazim and his wife Ghazal left behind two of their sons in Germany.

Most of those who leave Shingal to Europe and the West are from the towns and villages of Girozer, Sinune and Borkin, according to Mahma Khalil, mayor of Shingal.

Shaho Jumar is a student in Shingal who stayed behind with his sister in the town. The rest of his family members migrated abroad.

"Only my sister and I have stayed in Shingal… the majority of the people have left for Europe."

According to Mirza Bakir, Assistant Mayor of Shingal, many who migrate abroad wish to return to Iraq.

“My cousins moved to Germany, Australia and the US. However, they now regret their journeys and intend to return to Shingal."

Thousands of Yazidis returned to Shingal in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic which pushed many to leave squalid and unsanitary camps.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/060120211

Yazidis live in extended families with many relatives living in the same villages. I say throw everyone who is not Yazidi from their lands - make the coalition pay to rebuild the infrastructure, homes, businesses, farmlands and provide a UN Peacekeeping Force

[Anthea]

Shingal sees restoration of Shiite institutions

Destroyed Yazidi shrines still lay in ruin

Shingal’s (Sinjar) Shiites, among the groups once persecuted by the Islamic State (ISIS) group, are rebuilding their religious life in the war-ravaged town.

Since the northwestern Iraqi town’s liberation in 2015, four Shiite shrines destroyed by ISIS have been reopened with funding from religious authorities in Najaf and Karbala. New institutions, including a cultural centre and a Hussainia (Shiite congregational hall), are opening their doors as well.

“The shrine of our superior Zainab is up there. It has been renovated, after it was blown up by ISIS. There is also the shrine of Pir Zakar, who is our ancestor. The Shiite endowment is now renovating it and it’s in the final stages of reconstruction,” Abbas Abdullah, the Shiite mukhtar in Shingal, told Rudaw on Friday.

“There is also the shrine of the sons of Ali close to the agriculture directorate. It is in the process of being restored. And we will open up this Hussainia. God willing we will restore our mosque to what it was like before,” he added.

Shingal’s Shiites, who mostly consist of Kurds, largely live in the town’s centre. No official demographic numbers for the group are available.

However, with no local Yazidi shrines having been renovated since their destruction by ISIS, some from the majority group look nervously upon Shiite reconstruction

“Firstly, the Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces or PMF] are in Shingal. Secondly, power is almost in the hands of Shiites. So, the Shiites are sure [they are backed by them], that’s why they are coming and have no problems,” Khero Murad, a Yazidi shopkeeper, told Rudaw.

Ilyas Haji, a student, had similar remarks. “We know that the Shiites are backed by Najaf and Karbala. They are restoring their shrines and by doing this, they change the demography of Shingal,” he said.

Before ISIS, there were 28 Yazidi shrines in Shingal. Eight of them were blown up. So far, none have been renovated.

Sheikh Shamo Naamo, who advises the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) prime minister on Yazidi affairs, also claims Shiites moving into the area is part of a larger plan of demographic change.

“The Shiites now have come and opened cultural centres in Shingal to spread their culture and traditions, and to settle more Shiites in the town. The fate of Shingal is going through a dark tunnel,” he told Rudaw’s Rozhan Abubakir on Friday.

“This project of invading our land is the beginning of our removal and is a threat to our identity. Unfortunately, some of our Shingali people are happy with this project.”

Shiites see Shingal as religiously significant due to Prophet Mohammed’s cousin Ali having passed through the town.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/09012021

[Anthea]

Yazidism

Yazidism is a syncretic, monotheistic religion practiced by the Yazidis, an ethnoreligious group which resides primarily in northern Iraq, northern Syria, and southeastern Turkey

Yazidism is considered by its adherents to be the oldest religion in the world and the first truly monotheistic faith. The Yazidi calendar states that the religion, as well as the universe, is almost 7,000 years old, which is 5,000 years older than the Gregorian Calendar and 1,000 years older than the Jewish calendar.

Yazidism has had a rich history of syncretic development. For thousands of years, Yazidism incorporated elements of Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and Islam, all of which coalesced from 1162 CE to the 15th century CE. Ultimately, this process created Yazidi culture and ethnic identity. However, to understand Yazidism, its history must first be explained.

The Origins of Yazidism

Almost nothing is recorded about the history of the first Yazidis. The etymology of the word 'Yazidi' is uncertain. Scholars debate whether or not it comes from the Middle Persian and Kurdish Yazad, which means 'God.' Other scholars believe that the Yazidis originated in the Zoroastrian city of Yazd in Iran.

Another theory is that the Yazidis are descended from the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu’awiya, who reigned from 680 to 683 CE and killed the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein ibn ‘Ali.

After the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate in 750 CE, descendants of the royal family and other Umayyad sympathizers fled into the Kurdish mountains from the rival Abbasid Caliphate. There, they were welcomed by the Kurds, who remained loyal to them.

The theory concludes that the Umayyad refugees intermarried with the Yazidis, passing along their admiration for Yazid ibn Mua’wiyah, their ancestor and former ruler. This theory is popular among Western scholars, as in Yazidism, the historical figure of Yazid appears as one of the three manifestations of God, Sultan Êzî.

The Yazidis call themselves Ezid, Ezi, or Izid, as well as Dasini or Dasin, which is linked with the Nestorian Christian dioceses of Daseni or Dasaniyat. There is substantial evidence for the emergence of aspects of Yazidism from Christianity, as certain Yazidi rituals are derived from Christian traditions, such as baptism and the consumption of alcohol.

‘Adi’s followers turned the qibla, the direction in which a Muslim prays, away from Mecca & towards Lalish.

The Yazidis were first recorded historically by Muslim historian ‘Abd al-Karim al-Sam’ani (d. 1167 CE) as a community in Iraq during the 12th century CE. He wrote of a community called al-Yazidiyya in the region of Hulwan in northern Mosul, Iraq.

He said that they lived an ascetic lifestyle and rarely associated with outsiders. He also stated that al-Yazidiyya revered the caliph Yazid ibn Mu’awiya, which is consistent with modern Yazidi beliefs.

The Christian scholar Gregorius bar Hebraeus (d. 1286 CE) and Shafi’i scholar Ibn Kathir (1301-1373 CE) mentioned that there were many Kurds in northern Iraq who still practiced pre-Islamic faiths, such as the Zoroastrian Taïrahites and the Tirhiye, who practiced an ancient religion called Magism. Another related people known as the Shamsani practiced Manichaeism.

However, in the early 12th century CE, the arrival of one man in the Kurdish Mountains would change the fate of the Kurds forever, the man who is credited by scholars and Yazidis as the founder of Yazidism itself: Sheikh ‘Adi.

Sheikh ‘Adi was a 12th-century CE Sufi mystic who studied in Baghdad with other scholars of Islamic mysticism. Amongst these were the sheikhs ‘Uqayl al-Manbiji and Abdu’l-Wafa al-Hulwani, who came from the Kurdish mountains and established a Sufi presence there. This inspired ‘Adi to travel to northern Iraq to lead an ascetic life, free of all desires and the self.

Sheikh ‘Adi left Baghdad in the early 12th century CE to found a convent of Dervishes, or Sufi Muslim ascetics, in the valley of Lalish. He found a group of peasant Kurds in the area, whose belief system was a mixture of Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, ancient Iranian religions, and the veneration of the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu’awiya.

Sheikh ‘Adi performed miracles and led an ascetic lifestyle, which moved the Kurdish peasants so much that they became his followers. ‘Adi taught them his mystical form of Islam until he died in Lalish in 1162 CE. His tomb became a site of pilgrimage for his followers.

Eventually, ‘Adi’s followers turned the qibla, the direction in which a Muslim prays, away from Mecca and towards Lalish. This was the first step in the development of the Yazidi religion away from Islam, and Sheikh ‘Adi’s followers began calling themselves 'Yazidis.'
Yazidi Temple

Yazidi Temple

Years later, Sheikh Hasan, the grandson of Sheikh ‘Adi’s nephew, expanded Yazidi influence throughout the Muslim world during the 13th century CE. According to Yazidi oral tradition, Hasan wrote the religious text Kitab al-Jilwa li-Arbab al-Khalwa, which put Sheikh ‘Adi’s ideas into written form.

During Hasan’s reign, Yazidis served as soldiers in Saladin’s Muslim army during the Crusades and served as ambassadors to the Ayyubid Sultanate. Yazidism itself spread throughout the Kurdish community, and many converted. The Yazidis immigrated to large swathes of the Muslim world.

The increased power of the Yazidis under Sheikh Hasan frightened many Muslims, especially Badr al-Din Lu’lu, the provincial governor of Mosul. The Yazidis and the majority of other Kurdish groups did not support his rule; they rebelled and refused to pay taxes.

Lu’lu feared a large Kurdish revolt under the leadership of Hasan, so he sent his army to kill and imprison the Kurds. His soldiers did so and burned Sheikh ‘Adi’s bones in Lalish. Sheikh Hasan was captured and decapitated in Mosul in 1253 CE.

The execution of Sheikh Hasan marked the beginning of centuries of persecution faced by Yazidis, which has continued into the 21st century CE. By the 14th century CE, Yazidism spanned from the city of Sulaimaniya in the Kurdish Mountains to Antioch in Turkey. However, Yazidis have lived in tribal societies from the 15th century CE onwards as a result of continued persecution and a lack of centralized leadership.

Yazidi Religion & Its Tenets

During its 300-year period of syncretization from 1162 CE to the 15th century CE, Yazidism began to drastically deviate from Islam. Yazidis drank alcohol and turned the direction in which they prayed away from Mecca and towards Sheikh ‘Adi’s tomb, activities which Muslims despised. Yet, Yazidism and Islam were and still are both monotheistic.

In Islam, God’s 'one-ness,' or tawhid, is paramount. Tawhid means that God has no relatives or family members, nothing is comparable to him, and he is indivisible, which means that he cannot be comprised of a Holy Trinity. Thus, tawhid means that God is the only deity in the universe, the paragon of monotheism. The religious studies scholar Huston Smith said the following about the Islamic perception of God:

This God, whose majesty overflowed a desert cave to fill all heaven and earth, was surely not a god or even the greatest of gods. He was what his name literally claimed: he was the God, One and only, One without rival. Soon from this mountain cave was to sound the greatest phrase of the Arabic language; the deep, electrifying cry that was to rally a people and explode their power to the limits of the known world: La ilaha illa ‘llah! There is no god but God!

Similarly, Yazidis believe in the existence of one God named Xwedê. He is a benevolent, all-forgiving, and merciful deity, as well as the creator of the universe.

According to Yazidi oral tradition, which is how Yazidism is transmitted to successive generations, Xwedê created the world by making a white pearl. He then created the first bird, Anfar, and put the pearl on its back for 40,000 years. It was from this process that Earth emerged.

Xwedê's attributes are elaborated upon in two Yazidi religious texts: the Kitab al-Jilwah and the Mishefa Resh. Even though they were compiled by Western scholars, the contents of the Kitab al-Jilwah and Mishefa Resh corroborate Yazidi oral tradition and can therefore be seen as authentic. In the Kitab al-Jilwah, God states,

I was, am now, and shall have no end. I exercise dominion over all creatures and over the affairs of all who are under the protection of my image. I am ever present to help all who trust in me and call upon me in their time of need… To me truth and falsehood are known

Therefore, Yazidis envision God as omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, which is the same way Muslims view Allah. Additionally, the God of Yazidism also grants human beings free will, a theological concept also found in Christianity and Islam.

God says in the second Yazidi holy book, the Mishefa Resh, “I allow everyone to follow the dictates of his own nature, but he that opposes me will regret it sorely” (Joseph, 30). Additionally, the Yazidi God, like Allah, cannot be perceived by humans and can punish those who violate his will.

Peacock Angel

Even though Yazidism and Islam share some similarities, the former diverges from the latter in terms of how Yazidis perceive God. While God is monotheistic, he is comprised of a Holy Trinity, which features the Peacock Angel ('Peacock Angel' is Tawusi Melek in Kurdish), Sheikh ‘Adi, and Sultan Êzî. In the Trinity, ‘Adi and Êzî are deified versions of their historical counterparts: Sheikh ‘Adi is the Sufi mystic and preacher who taught the Yazidis’ Kurdish ancestors his version of Islam, while Sultan Êzî is the Umayyad caliph Yazid ibn Mu’awiya.

The Peacock Angel, however, is the chief member of the Holy Trinity. He is a manifestation of God and the ambassador to humanity, tasked with bestowing divine wisdom upon the Yazidi people every 1,000 years. As the leader of the Heft Sir (Seven Angels), the Peacock Angel and his subordinates are responsible for predetermining the future.

Yazidis view him as the symbol of their faith. As the only earthly representative of God, he is deeply revered. The Yazidi Holy Trinity is the only way through which God can be observed, and the Trinity is the object of veneration. The Yazidi hymn 'Symbol of Faith', or Ședha Dînî, states:

The testimony of my faith is One God,

Sultan Sheikh ‘Adī is my king,

Sultan Ězî is my king,

Tawûsî Melek is (the object of) my declaration and my faith.

God willing, we are Yazidis

Followers of the name of Sultan Ězîd.

God be praised, we are content with our religion and our community.

Theology of the Peacock Angel: Accusations of Devil-Worship

While Yazidism’s Holy Trinity distinguishes it from Islam, the greatest theological difference between the two faiths is how the Peacock Angel contrasts with the Islamic view of Satan.

Yazidi oral tradition states that God ordered the Peacock Angel not to submit to other beings. God then tested his loyalty by creating Adam, the first man, from dust, and subsequently commanded the Peacock Angel to bow to Adam.

However, the Peacock Angel refused, exclaiming, “How can I submit to another being! I am from your illumination while Adam is made of dust”. Consequently, God praised the Peacock Angel and made him his earthly representative. Thus, Yazidis interpret the Peacock Angel’s rejection of Adam as the purest act of devotion to God.

Muslims, however, view the Peacock Angel’s refusal to submit to Adam as heretical. They equate him with Satan (who is also called 'Iblis' in the Qur'an), who, like the Peacock Angel, refused Allah’s command to submit to Adam. However, instead of praising him, Allah cast Satan into Hell as a punishment for disobeying his command. In the Qur'an, God states:

We said, ‘Bow down before Adam,’ and they all bowed down, but not Iblis: he was one of the jinn and disobeyed his Lord’s command. Are you [people] going to take him and his offspring as your masters instead of Me, even though they are your enemies? What a bad bargain for the evildoers! I did not make them witnesses to the creation of the heavens and earth, nor to their own creation… We shall set a deadly gulf between them. The evildoers will see the Fire and they will realize that they are about to fall into it: they will find no escape from it. (Qur'an 18:50-53)

Because of this parallel between the Peacock Angel and Satan, many Muslims and Christians have accused Yazidis of being devil-worshippers. This accusation is baseless, as not only is the Peacock Angel a distinct entity from Satan in Yazidism but the concept of 'Satan' does not exist in the Yazidi faith.

In fact, Yazidis are forbidden from saying the word 'Satan' or words that sound like Satan because doing so would associate Satan’s evil characteristics with the Peacock Angel. The Mishefa Resh states: “None of us is allowed to utter [Satan’s] name, nor anything that resembles it, such as Sheitan (Satan), kaitan (cord), shar (evil), shat (river), and the like”.

Despite this key theological nuance, however, the Yazidis have been persecuted by Muslims and Christians for centuries because non-Yazidis have wrongly identified the Peacock Angel as Satan. The Yazidis have endured 74 attempted genocides, the most recent of which was at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which began in 2014 CE and continues to the present day.

Yazidism: A Guarded Faith

Yazidis are immensely secretive about their traditions and religious beliefs, which are orally passed down from generation to generation by a special priestly caste known as qewwals. Yazidis prevent outsiders from learning about and participating in their holiest traditions.

Additionally, Yazidi marriage is endogamous in order to maintain purity of belief, customs, and group safety. If a Yazidi marries a non-Yazidi, he or she is deemed an outsider and is barred from the faith. While this extreme level of secrecy might be surprising to some, it is rooted in a history of persecution, bloodshed, and uncertainty.

The Yazidis have managed to survive numerous attempts at extermination for centuries, but such brutality has left deep cultural scars. Modern-day Yazidis solemnly remember their brethren who have been lost to violence throughout their history. However, they also look to the future, instructing the young about the tenets of Yazidism and hoping for the day that they can finally practice their religion in peace.

https://www.ancient.eu/Yazidism/

[Anthea]

Baghdad liquor store attacks

One person was killed and another injured in a series of IED attacks on liquor stores in Baghdad on Monday and Tuesday, according to Iraqi media reports

Alcohol stores in the neighborhoods of al-Adhamiyah, Bab al-Moatham and Karrada were targeted.

The attack in Karrada was two-pronged, with one explosion targeting a liquor shop and another targeting the car of the shop owner, al-Hurra reported, quoting security sources.

"Two people were taken to the hospital, one of them was in a critical condition and he died of his wounds," a security source told the Iraqi media outlet.

A group calling itself "Ahl al-Marouf" or "People of the Good" claimed responsibility for the Bab al-Moazam and al al-Adhamiyah explosions on its Telegram channel.

Rudaw contacted interior ministry officials for comment, but none said that could confirm the attacks.

At least 14 alcohol shops across the city had been firebombed in the middle of the night or just before dawn since October, AFP reported in December.

Most liquor stores are run by Christians or Yazidis, minorities who for decades have been granted the licenses required to sell alcohol in broadly conservative Iraq

For years, their owners have paid protection fees to armed Islamist groups to guarantee they can keep selling

"The shops that were attacked were paying protection for armed groups, but this is not seemingly enough anymore," merchant alcoholic beverages from Baghdad, who asked not to be named, told AFP in December.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/130120211

[Anthea]

WE NEED HELP

Suicides spike at Duhok’s camps for Yazidis



Shamo Badil Suleiman took work wherever it was available. He would travel down the unpaved road leading out of the camp he had to call home, to Duhok, Zakho, and beyond, taking casual work as a builder.

Qadia, also known as Rwanga camp, can be only accessed by a dirt road with dilapidated buildings and empty fields on either side. The entrance to the camp, population 13,000, is lined with shops selling everything from vegetables to wedding dresses. Further on is a photography shop, a barber, and a cafe, where a woman serves baklava from a caravan painted bubblegum pink. “Hope Cafe,” reads the Arabic sign outside.

At Qadia, hope has its limits. Shamo, aged 22, died by suicide on January 8, one of eleven Yazidis to die this way in the three weeks since the start of 2021. The deaths by suicide have reignited calls for help from NGOs working at the camps, and spurred a Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament to write to the Council of Ministers chaired by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, to demand a committee be formed to identify the causes behind them.

The current uptick in suicides is but one of many that the Yazidis, one of Iraq’s oldest ethnoreligious groups, has seen since 2014 – the worst year in the community’s living memory. The Islamic State (ISIS) was tearing through Syria and Iraq, and had the Yazidis, who they consider to be heretics, firmly in their sights. When they reached the community’s Shingal heartland, they killed and kidnapped thousands of civilians, including children.

Heading for sanctuary in northeast Syria, hundreds of thousands scrambled up the Sinjar mountains in the baking August heat, some too weak to finish the ascent. Those who survived the week-long fight to survive walked to the Kurdistan Region through Syria and settled in one of the now 25 IDP camps, including Qadia, dotted across the Region. More than six years on, these camps are where the majority of Yazidis remain.

Amid Qadia’s sea of tents and containers is a small shop, sponsored by an NGO in the camp, selling fruits and vegetables – but there is not enough work to go around. The camp has no school, leaving many young people in limbo. Residents with too many hours to fill and a lack of psychosocial support are left largely unaided with their trauma, and little sense things will get better.

“Youths don’t see a future. Adults don't know what to do on a daily basis. The memories of what happened and the lack of opportunities in the future are virtually paralysing the community,” said Pari Ibrahim, director of the Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF).

Numbers of Yazidi deaths by suicide at Duhok’s camps since 2014 are hard to come by. Rudaw English contacted a host of NGOs, government offices, and healthcare officials, for an estimate that none were able to provide.

The container Shamo once lived in, where his family still lives, is towards the end of the camp, where tents give way to rocky fields and mountains that much resemble those which sheltered the Yazidis fleeing ISIS in 2014. Inside, like in every Yazidi home, a velvet pouch carrying barat, balls of clay from Lalish, the spiritual centre of their faith, hangs on the wall. It is believed to bring protection and blessings to the home.

Shamo’s family said his anxiety symptoms surfaced six years ago, not long after they moved to the camp. “In Shingal, he [Shamo] was okay, but when he came here he changed,” his nephew Hadi Qulu said. There were no psychiatrists in the camp for Shamo to see when his mental health deteriorated, so he had to travel to the city of Duhok for treatment.

“There isn’t a single place we didn’t take him,” his brother Khudaida said.

Manal Mohammed Fuad, the head of the Joint Crisis Centre (JCC) at Duhok’s migration directorate, told Rudaw that eight Yazidis at IDP camps in Duhok had died by suicide. She put the suicides down to each individual’s history and personal circumstances – not camp conditions.

“There are social problems, maybe their environments have changed, the effects of social media … there are daily problems, the effect of education, family, and community, these could all be a possibility for their suicides,” she said.

But camp residents, and those trying to help them, describe the situation in far more clear-cut terms.

“The Yazidi community is suffering from acute trauma and mental health challenges. I don't know how to put it more plainly than that,” says Pari Ibrahim from FYF, which provides psychosocial support to Yazidis in the Sharya, Khanke and Sheikhan camps. “Our trauma team is overloaded with cases of Yazidis who have suicidal thoughts or depression.”

Karzan Jasim Mohammed is a psychotherapist with the Jiyan Foundation, a Duhok-based non-profit caring for victims of torture, persecution and violence, including Yazidis in IDP camps. He says that a lack of work prospects and inability to provide for their families are also driving people to end their lives.

“They have no salary, no privacy… they can't talk freely. There is no security in the camps. If those things are not fulfilled, how can someone adapt?”

Mountains serve as backdrop to a sprawling camp near the town of Sharya, Duhok province. Outside one cluster of tents is a crowd of men on an island of caked earth, a small sanctuary from the dust that surrounds them. Some sit on plastic chairs, thumbing prayer beads; one man, standing up, greets his island’s visitors. In the main room of the tent behind them, women gather around a middle-aged mother, Aishan Ali, who clutches a wrapped photo frame. She uncovers it at various intervals to kiss the photo collage of her 15-year-old daughter, Ahlam. Mother and daughter used to sleep together in a room where one now mourns the other.

Aishan said things were going relatively well for her family before Ahlam, the youngest of her eight children, died by suicide ten days ago.

“She was always smiling,” Aishan said. “She would go to Bahara Hevi [NGO], she would go out with her friends, she would go to the shop.” Ahlam was one of several people who died by suicide in the camp in recent weeks, her family said – contrary to figures from Duhok’s JCC, which notes just one since the beginning of the year.

Like Shamo, Ahlam’s family hail from Tel Azeer, which, like other towns and villages to the south of Mount Shingal, is still riddled with mines and rubble. What happened in 2014 to the Yazidis in Tel Azeer and beyond was one of 74 genocides that the community counts against them. Just seven years earlier, Tel Azeer was subject to one of the world’s deadliest terror attacks – with al-Qaeda killing 796 people in a series of car bombs in the village and nearby Shiba Sheikh Khidr in 2007.

Survivors who had no home to return to were housed in tents, a reality many would face once more in 2014. Ditches were dug around Shingal’s Yazidi villages to protect from further attacks, and the small community felt more vulnerable than ever. Four years later, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) warned of increased instances of suicide in Shingal, which it said lacked essential psychological services.

Psychologists say the trauma that comes not just from our personal tragedies, but from our ancestors can be of serious detriment to mental health. The ISIS genocide has “resurfaced memories” of previous massacres, leaving today’s community suffering from “multiple traumatisations,” according to an academic study by psychotherapist Michael Noll-Hussong and Yazidi psychiatrist Jan Kizilhan. In a statement Kizilhan sent to Rudaw English on Saturday, he added that trauma is not the only factor driving people to end their lives. Camp living conditions, “sexual and familial violence, financial loss, and the loss of family members”, to name but a few, are also contributing factors.

“Life in the refugee camps, the politically still unsettled perspective of a better life as well as the economic and social problems, including the current constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, have all added to the psychological stress,” read the statement from the Institute of Psychotherapy and Psychotraumatology at the University of Duhok, headed by Kizilhan. “Every suicide is a tragedy and suicides are preventable...every life lost to suicide is a life too many,” it said. “Preventative measures should be put in place – now.”

Firas Suleiman, himself a displaced Yazidi from Shingal, is a lead psychologist with the Jesuit Refugee Service, which runs a centre outside of the camp providing free psychosocial support to both Yazidis living in nearby Sharya and further afield in Zakho and Duhok, as well as local Muslims and Christians.

“We need help. We need professional help,” said Suleiman, who studies at Kizilhan’s institute – the only programme of its kind in the Kurdistan Region. Of more than 800 cases the centre has seen since its opening, he says 100 have been suicide-related, including suicide attempts. He estimates the number of psychologists in Duhok – a province of more than one million people – to be “eight or nine.”

Amid a lack of professional care in the province, the FYF deploys teams of Yazidis trained in psychological first aid to visit families tent by tent, and JRS provides education to the families of patients in an attempt to raise awareness of mental health problems.

"Before 2014, it was a really, really big stigma to visit psychiatrists and even psychotherapists. But after our situation, when ISIS attacked our society... people understand that they need psychological support. But it doesn't mean they aren't facing challenges with stigma,” Suleiman said. “Many people are committing suicide in Sinjar [Shingal], I’m hearing from my friends, but they’re not sharing it with the media or other people because of stigma. In other cases of suicide, their families didn't allow them to visit psychiatrists because of stigma.”

The Jiyan Foundation provides free treatment for IDPs at their Duhok office and in Khanke camp. Psychiatrist Mohammed said he saw more than 30 people in 2020 exhibiting signs of wanting to end their life.

Social media posts and slapdash stories from news outlets are also contributing to the problem, the professionals say. “News of suicide is published in a matter of four to five minutes all across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq,” Mohammed said. “This is another reason...suicidal thoughts come back.” Kizilhan said “inappropriate media coverage which sensationalises suicide helps to increase the risk of copycat acts.”

Back in Qadia, Hadi spoke of his wish to help his community, and others like his cousin. The 22-year-old is in his first year of classes at a college in the nearby town of Qaraqosh, where he is studying psychology.

“I would like to be a psychologist and solve our problems in our society. If we stay here [at the camp], I would like to solve our problems here.”

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/180120211

[Anthea]

Erbil-Baghdad deal problem

A Yazidi commander in Shingal has claimed that the Erbil-Baghdad deal on governance and security in the disputed district has not been implemented properly

“In terms of implementing the deal between Erbil and Baghdad, the procedures are slow and the deal has not been implemented properly,” Haidar Shasho, commander of the Ezidkhan Protection Force in Shingal incorporated into the Peshmerga forces, told Rudaw English on Monday.

“There are still Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) units and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) affiliated groups inside Shingal, even though they were supposed to leave,” Shasho said.

The PMF is a network of paramilitary groups, some of which are backed by Iran.

Baghdad reached a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on October 9 over the governance and security of Shingal, which is disputed between the two governments.

Under the agreement, security for the troubled region is Baghdad's responsibility. The federal government will have to establish a new armed force recruited from the local population and expel fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and their affiliated groups, according to details released in October.

Implementation of the agreement began in November with the deployment of some 6,000 federal police to the areas of Shingal that border Syria. “Three brigades of Iraqi federal forces are placed on the border between Shingal and Syria in order to prevent any forces from going back and forth,” Deputy Governor of Nineveh province Sirwan Rozhbayani told Rudaw in November.

"As per the agreement, all non-official armed groups are going to leave Sinjar [Shingal]," Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesman for Iraq’s Joint Operation Command, told Rudaw English on December 1, noting that this includes groups in the PMF.

Turkey has launched several airstrikes on the district, claiming to target affiliates of the PKK – a Kurdish armed group fighting for increased rights for Turkey’s Kurds, which is seen as a terrorist organization by Ankara.

Earlier on Monday, Yehia Rasool, the spokesperson for Iraq’s commander-in-chief told state media that the presence of federal forces has brought “relief” to Shingal.

“There is a sense of common relief in Sinjar with the presence of federal forces in the region, the security of the town has improved and encourages the return of the displaced.”

“In terms of security, Shingal is good, it is much better than other disputed areas such as Khanaqin where Islamic State (ISIS) is very active,” Shasho said. “However, lately the return of the displaced has lessened.”

Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis were displaced from Shingal in the ISIS attack, most of whom remain in the Kurdistan Region.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, prompted waves of returns to the area last year.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/180120211