A new report reveals a sharp rise in suicide cases in Mosul and Shingal, exposing the deepening psychological and social struggles faced by the Ezidi people and other minorities. Between January and September 2025, 84 suicides were recorded in Mosul and 16 in Shingal, most among young people still affected by war, displacement, and trauma.
More than a decade after ISIS destroyed Shingal, Germany is urging Iraq to speed up reconstruction of the Ezidi homeland. Despite new laws and aid projects, most Ezidis remain displaced, and rebuilding has stalled amid political tensions and insecurity.
När en kurdisk designer presenterade en traditionell ezidisk klänning på catwalken i Milano applåderade många gesten som ett tecken på inkludering. Men är det verkligen erkännande – eller appropriering? För Ezidi Times går frågan djupare: varför måste ezider förlita sig på andra för att visa sina traditioner, och vad betyder det när deras kulturarv absorberas in i en bredare kurdisk berättelse? Det som står på spel är inte bara mode, utan överlevnaden av ett uråldrigt folks identitet.
Lorsqu’une créatrice kurde a présenté une robe traditionnelle ézidie sur le podium à Milan, beaucoup ont applaudi le geste comme un signe d’inclusion. Mais s’agit-il vraiment de reconnaissance — ou d’appropriation ? Pour Ezidi Times, la question va plus loin : pourquoi les Ézidis doivent-ils dépendre des autres pour présenter leurs traditions, et que signifie que leur patrimoine soit absorbé dans un récit kurde plus large ? Ce qui est en jeu n’est pas seulement la mode, mais la survie de l’identité d’un peuple ancien.
Als eine kurdische Designerin in Mailand ein traditionelles ezidisches Kleid auf dem Laufsteg präsentierte, applaudierten viele und sahen darin ein Zeichen der Anerkennung. Doch ist es wirklich Wertschätzung – oder vielmehr Aneignung? Für Ezidi Times geht die Frage tiefer: Warum müssen Eziden darauf warten, dass andere ihre Traditionen zeigen, und was bedeutet es, wenn ihr Erbe in eine breitere kurdische Erzählung eingegliedert wird? Hier geht es nicht nur um Mode, sondern um das Überleben der Identität eines uralten Volkes.
When a Kurdish designer presented a traditional Ezidi dress on the runway in Milan, many applauded the gesture as a sign of inclusion. But is it really recognition—or appropriation? For Ezidi Times, the question runs deeper: why must Ezidis rely on others to showcase their traditions, and what does it mean when their heritage is absorbed into a broader Kurdish narrative? At stake is not just fashion, but the survival of an ancient people’s identity.
The documentary “Hawar, Our Banished Children” exposes the hidden trauma of Ezidi women raped by ISIS, who now search for the children born from these assaults. With 3,000 women still missing, the film highlights ongoing genocide, the rejection of these children by the Ezidi people, and the first European trials of jihadists for these crimes.
Nearly 300 long-forgotten photographs of the Ezidi people, taken in northern Iraq during the 1930s, have been rediscovered in an American museum archive. The images, showing weddings, shrines, and daily life, offer a rare glimpse into Ezidi heritage nearly erased by ISIS, and are now being shared with Ezidis in Iraq and across the diaspora.
Tens of thousands of displaced Ezidis remain in Duhok camps as attempts to return to Shengal are stalled by destroyed homes, lack of services, and security instability.
As the Mosul Dam reservoir recedes to its lowest levels in nearly a century, archaeologists are uncovering not only 2,300-year-old Hellenistic tombs but also traces of Ezidi heritage once submerged beneath the Tigris. In recent years, a long-hidden Ezidi village, a 1961 tomb, and even a school in Hanke have resurfaced, reminding the world that Ezidi history in northern Mesopotamia — tied to the faith of Sharfadin — cannot be erased by dams, drought, or displacement.
Iraq has begun the long-delayed excavation of the Khasfa mass grave near Mosul, a vast sinkhole where ISIS executed and buried thousands during its rule. Believed to hold at least 4,000 victims — including Ezidis, soldiers, and civilians — the site is one of the largest and most complex in modern Iraqi history. Forensic teams face immense challenges, but the work offers families of the missing a fragile hope for answers and dignity after more than a decade of silence.
On 12 August 2025, the remains of 22 Ezidi victims of ISIS were returned to Sinjar for burial following DNA identification in Baghdad. This marks the seventh official handover since 2021, as authorities continue to exhume and identify victims from mass graves across the region. The process underscores the scale of the atrocities committed during ISIS’s 2014 assault and the ongoing efforts to allow families to bury their loved ones according to Ezidi tradition and the faith of Sharfadin.
On August 3, 2014, the Ezidi people of Sinjar were targeted for extermination by ISIS. Thousands were killed, enslaved, and displaced. The genocide aimed to erase not only lives, but identity, culture, and the ancient faith of Sharfadin.
Eleven years later, justice remains out of reach. Sinjar is still unsafe. Survivors are still waiting. And Iraq has yet to formally recognize the genocide—blocked by those who try to claim the Ezidis as their own.
We remember the victims.
We name the truth.
And we will not stop until justice is done and our people can return home safely. Ezidi Times will continue to speak. Loudly. Relentlessly. Truthfully.
In a significant step toward holding perpetrators accountable, an Iraqi court has sentenced a former ISIS member to death for his involvement in the kidnapping of Ezidis during the 2014 genocide in Sinjar. The individual was found guilty of participating in the armed attacks and mass abductions that targeted the Ezidi people in northwestern Iraq.
Bagdad — Les forces de sécurité irakiennes ont arrêté deux hommes accusés de s’être fait passer pour des conseillers du Premier ministre et d’avoir escroqué le peuple ézidi en leur promettant faussement un recrutement militaire, a confirmé mardi la Sécurité nationale. Les arrestations ont eu lieu à Bagdad à la suite Read more
Baghdad — Iraqi security forces have apprehended two men accused of impersonating advisers to the prime minister and swindling Ezidis with false promises of military recruitment, the National Security Service confirmed on 22nd July 2025. The arrests were carried out in Baghdad following a covert operation that exposed the scheme. Investigators Read more
Humanity walks through history carrying the ashes of its own crimes. Every stone laid at memorials like Tsitsernakaberd whispers of lives extinguished and of promises broken — never again, we say, yet again and again, we fail. As the eternal flame burns for the Armenians of 1915, it casts a shadow that reaches Sinjar, where the Ezidi people still suffer the consequences of the genocide ISIS unleashed in 2014. Eleven years later, the wounds remain unhealed, deepened by betrayal, neglect, and cynical politics. How many more memorials must we build before we finally understand that remembrance is not enough — justice and protection must follow, or the cycle will never end?
The Imperial War Museum in London opened Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict, the UK’s first major exhibition on wartime sexual violence, running through November 2. It includes testimony and artefacts from Ezidi women enslaved by ISIS, alongside other global cases, raising awareness of survivors’ struggle for justice. The Free Ezidi Foundation contributed to the exhibition.
Two former Ezidi women enslaved by ISIS expose the dark past of Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, warning the West not to trust a man who once walked among jihadi commanders and presided over unspeakable horrors. Their testimony challenges the narrative of reform and calls for vigilance against repeating history.
🇬🇧🇫🇷🇮🇶🇷🇺🇦🇲🇹🇷🇳🇱🇧🇷🇪🇸🇸🇪🇩🇪🇩🇰
An Iraqi military official emphasized that the PKK disarmament process should include Sinjar, where armed groups loyal to the PKK remain active. The official stressed that these groups must be part of any agreement. The PKK began destroying weapons in May, a move welcomed by Turkey as “a new era.”