Thursday, April 19, 2007
Surge in attacks on Yazidis
Security, Minorities
(Azzaman) - Iraqi Yazidis are paying a heavy price for their tenacious adherence to their religious practices which do not appeal to armed fundamentalist factions and groups in the country. Attacks on Yazidis have surged recently and almost all Yazidi families living outside the autonomous Kurdish region have fled the country.
According to a statement issued by the League of Yazidi intellectuals 192 Yazidis have been killed in the past four years since U.S. troops invaded Iraq. Most of the killings were perpetrated on religious grounds as fundamentalist and Islamist groups see them as infidels who either have to convert or be killed.
The Yazidi religion is a conglomeration of different faiths and includes traces of Christianity, Islam and Zorastrianism. They worship the fallen Angel abhorred by Muslims, Christians and Jews. They have their main sanctuaries in Iraq close to the northern city of Mosul but currently are situated within the semi-independent territory Iraqi Kurds have carved up for themselves.
There are nearly half a million Yazidis in Iraq and most of them live in two major localities – in Shaikhan north of Mosul and Sinjar to the west. Ethnically they are Kurds and speak Kurdish as their mother tongue. Officially, they are treated on equal footing like other citizens in the Kurdish north but many members complain of discriminating behavior. They have three deputies in the Kurdish parliament and two in the national parliament in Baghdad.
According to a statement issued by the League of Yazidi intellectuals 192 Yazidis have been killed in the past four years since U.S. troops invaded Iraq. Most of the killings were perpetrated on religious grounds as fundamentalist and Islamist groups see them as infidels who either have to convert or be killed.
The Yazidi religion is a conglomeration of different faiths and includes traces of Christianity, Islam and Zorastrianism. They worship the fallen Angel abhorred by Muslims, Christians and Jews. They have their main sanctuaries in Iraq close to the northern city of Mosul but currently are situated within the semi-independent territory Iraqi Kurds have carved up for themselves.
There are nearly half a million Yazidis in Iraq and most of them live in two major localities – in Shaikhan north of Mosul and Sinjar to the west. Ethnically they are Kurds and speak Kurdish as their mother tongue. Officially, they are treated on equal footing like other citizens in the Kurdish north but many members complain of discriminating behavior. They have three deputies in the Kurdish parliament and two in the national parliament in Baghdad.
Labels: attacks, Mosul, Sinjar, Yazidis
