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Yazidis

On the 10th Anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide

Today marks a somber milestone: the tenth anniversary of the Yezidi Genocide. It remains a dark chapter in human history, that unfolded on August 3, 2014, when ISIS launched a merciless assault on the peaceful Yezidi Kurds of Şengal, Southern Kurdistan (Sinjar, Iraq). On this solemn occasion, we at the Kurdish Center for Studies come […]

Restoring Şengal: Yazidis Gather to Secure Justice and their Future

In two conferences in Amsterdam and Brussels, members of the Yazidi community tried to heal wounds and look at the future, finding strength in coming together. The genocide against the Yazidis, carried out by ISIS, happened ten years ago, in August of this year. Or, better phrased: it began ten years ago, but the violence […]

Red Wednesday: The Yazidi New Year’s Ritual

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is drawing to a close, and as Muslims are preparing to break the fast and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, followers of a much smaller, yet far more ancient faith are also celebrating a new year, popularly called “Red Wednesday” too. This is a rare coincidence that fundamentally represents the […]

Afrin’s Yazidis: An Ancient Culture Edges Toward the Precipice

The genocidal campaign perpetrated by fighters of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) against the Yazidi stronghold of Sinjar in 2014 brought the ethno-religious Kurdish minority in Iraq and Syria into the spotlight. While Yazidis in Iraq are heavily concentrated in the Sheikhan district of Duhok and Sinjar, adherents of the faith in Syria have lived […]