An article published by KDC about an upcoming memorial ceremony in Tbilisi repeatedly refers to the 2014 Ezidi Genocide as the “Yazidi Kurdish genocide.” It also describes Sinjar as the homeland of “Yazidi Kurds” and presents the genocide as part of “modern Kurdish history.”
This language is inaccurate, politically loaded and deeply disrespectful to the people being commemorated.
ISIS targeted Ezidis because they were Ezidis. The victims were murdered, abducted, forcibly converted and subjected to sexual violence because of their Ezidi identity and faith. The internationally recognised name is the Ezidi Genocide, not the “Yazidi Kurdish genocide.”
Organising a memorial does not give any association the right to redefine the victims or absorb their suffering into a Kurdish nationalist narrative. Ezidis cannot be honoured while their identity is simultaneously rewritten.
We therefore call on KDC to correct the headline and all similar wording in the article. The text should refer clearly to the Ezidi Genocide, the Ezidi people and Sinjar as an ancestral homeland of Ezidis.
We also ask KDC and the organisations involved to refrain from using similar propagandistic language in relation to Ezidis in the future.
Solidarity is welcome. Political appropriation is not.
