As an ancient ethno-religious minority, the Ezidis have faced persecution for centuries due to their faith. The self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria viewed Ezidis as heretical devil worshippers.
The Yezidis are an ethno-religious minority with the majority speaking Kurmanji, one of the main Kurdish dialects, according to researchers. Geographically, they are classified as a dispersed minority in demographic centres where population density is homogenous and concentrated. They are mainly located in contested areas across several residential clusters, notably in the Sinjar region (locally known as Shingal) and the Nineveh Plain, which falls administratively under the central government. This region includes the Shekhan district, along with numerous Yezidi villages and towns in the Tel Keppe district, as well as the cities of Ba’shiqa and Bahzani in Nineveh province. There are also smaller population clusters in the southern and western parts of Duhok province, which have been part of the Kurdistan region since 1991, including towns and cities such as Sharya, Khanke, Ba’adre, and Derabun.
The third Iraqi women’s conference, held on 25 July in Baghdad and organized by the Iraqi Women’s Association and the Yazidi Women’s Freedom Movement (TAJÊ), focused on uniting against femicide and commemorating the victims of the 2014 Yazidi genocide. The conference included speeches highlighting the impact on women and children, the unknown fate of many captured by ISIS, and the need for women to organize against patriarchal violence.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide. It has been ten years since over 10,000 Yazidis were brutally murdered. Ten years since more than 7,000 women and children were subjected to abduction, violence, and enslavement. Ten years since thousands have disappeared and over 2,600 are still missing without a trace. This article is republished on Ezidi Times with the kind permission of Jurist.org.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted Ezidi activists at the State Department on July 23 ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Ezidi genocide by ISIS.
In this article we give you a recap of the main events related to the Ezidis. Ezidi Athlete Yurik Mamedov...
Photo: shankar s. on Flickr. The remains of 139 people, believed to have been killed by ISIS, have been recovered...
The Iraqi flag. Foto: Bryan Jones on flickr. The relationship between Kurdish political parties and the Ezidi population in Iraq has become...
Supreme Court of Kosovo. Foto: Wikimedia Commons. Kosovo's Special Prosecution has indicted a Kosovo citizen, identified as M.D., for crimes...
Yazidi demonstration in front of the White House in Washington DC. (March 15, 2019) The poster on the left says...
On July 10, 2024, an Iraqi court sentenced Asma Mohamed, one of the wives of the Islamic State leader Abu...
Views of the site of a massacre by the Islamic State and mass grave of Ezidis in Shingal (Sinjar) in...
Ezidi tombs were being destroyed and vandalized. The tombs were reportedly specifically targeted because they were the tombs of Ezidi girls. The vandalizers have not only destroyed the tombs, but they have also thrown out the resting bones, showing no respect to the deceased people and their and their families.
Stockholm - 25 January 2024 Stockholm District Court. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. A Swedish National - previously sentenced for enlisting her...
16.04.2024 Yerevan Photo: Wikimedia Commons On April 16, 2024, an extraordinary session of the Armenian Parliament convened to discuss the...
Ezidi Times extends heartfelt greetings and warm wishes to all on the auspicious occasion of Charshama Sare Sale, marking the...
Photo: Logan Weaver on Unsplash. The German Prosecution has taken decisive action against individuals suspected of heinous crimes including genocide, crimes against...
German Court rejects the appeal of Jennifer W. - the woman who enslaved a Ezidi woman and her daughter. The...
Recently the news about the ISIS leader “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi” surfaced on the internet, after his wives and daughter gave an interview on Al-Arabiya. Al-Baghdadi has allegedly been killed in a US operation in northwestern Syria in 2019, however, during his time as an IS fighter, he has held more than 10 Ezidi children and women as slaves in his household. According to the narratives of the wives and his daughter; the Ezidi girls and women were treated “well”. This is a concerning statement which Ezidi Times finds crucial to address.
Photo by Seth Frantzman on Flickr. The plight of the Ezidis, who suffered horrific atrocities at the hands of the...
