Duhok FC Removes Ezidi Symbol Under Pressure From Islamists
The sun is more than a celestial body for the Ezidi people—it is a sacred emblem, a central pillar of the Sharfadin faith, and a representation of the divine light of God. Its significance permeates Ezidi culture, history, and spirituality. Yet, in Duhok, even a symbol as pure and universal as the sun has become a target for hate, intolerance, and systematic erasure.
Recently, Duhok Football Club unveiled a shirt design meant to honor the city’s rich history and cultural diversity. The design included the sun as a representation of Sharfadin, the historic Amedi district gate in Duhok, and the club name elegantly inscribed in the ancient Nail script. This initiative could have been a bold statement of inclusion and recognition for the Ezidi people.
Instead, it sparked outrage. Social media was flooded with hate speech and targeted opposition, primarily from voices claiming to speak for Islam. Prominent Kurdish Mullahs publicly demanded that no religious symbol appear on the Duhok shirt except the Islamic one, implicitly affirming a double standard: Kutdish identity is acceptable, Ezidi identity is not.
Under these pressures, Duhok FC announced the removal of the sun symbol, citing FIFA regulations against religious symbols. Yet a simple survey of European clubs shows that numerous teams proudly display crosses, crescents, and other religious imagery, exposing the flimsy nature of this justification. The real reason is not FIFA rules—it is ethnic and religious discrimination against the Ezidi people.
This incident shows the continuing pattern of marginalization, exclusion, and silencing of Ezidi voices. Eleven years after the 2014 genocide, when ISIS attempted to annihilate the Ezidi people, hatred, aggression, and intolerance continue unchecked, now manifesting in cultural erasure rather than mass violence—but no less harmful. The refusal to allow the sun on a football shirt is a stark reminder that Ezidis are still denied full recognition of their identity and faith.
The sun is the light of God. To reject it is to reject truth, history, and humanity itself. Duhok FC’s compliance with this discriminatory pressure underscores a deeper societal failure: no repentance, no recognition, no justice for the crimes of 2014. Hatred persists, and Ezidis continue to face the same aggression that sought to erase them physically more than a decade ago.
