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Little has been done for Iraq's Kurdish
Yezidis since bombing
9.11.2007
Michael Jansen in northern Iraq
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Iraq's Kurdish Yezidis yearn for peace and
understanding in the troubled state, little has been
done for the ethnic group since the bombing at
Kahtaniya killed 330.
November 9, 2007
Ninewa, Northwest Iraq, -- The situation of
the Kurdish Yezidis, like Iraq's other minorities,
is worse today than during the reign of the ousted
Baath party.
The Yezidis, Kurdish monotheists, were formerly
neglected but not targeted by the government or its
allies. Meriam Hassan Ibrahim, one of the three
Yezidi members of the Kurdish regional assembly,
said that now the Yezidis are ignored by the
authorities and under pressure from al-Qaeda, Sunni
Kurds, Arab jihadists and criminal gangs.
"Before, Yezidis, Sunnis and Christians were living
peacefully together. But now our villages are caught
up in sectarian warfare like Baghdad," says Ibrahaim.
She described the suicide bombing in the village of
Kahtaniya, which
killed more than 330 Kurdish
Yezidis in mid-August, as the worst
atrocity.
"The police say they have caught those responsible
but there has been no court case. We are not even
sure who is conspiring against Yezidis."
The Iraqi government has done nothing to reconstruct
the village, located on the Syrian border outside
the Kurdistan autonomous region.
People, she adds, have no shelter, no water and no
food.
Violent incidents against Yezidis began in April
when family members
murdered a Kurdish Yezidi girl
who had married or consorted with a Sunni whose
supporters retaliated by
killing 22 Yezidi workers.
Girls from a village in the Kurdish region recently
began to be kidnapped and married by Sunni Kurdish
men from a neighbouring village. Sunnis - who regard
the Yezidis as infidels and "devil worshippers"
because they regard Satan as a rehabilitated angel -
claim they are bringing the girls to Islam. The
fearful Yezidis, who number in tens of thousands,
say nothing.
Ain Sifni, in the Shekhan district, has some 8,000
inha- bitants, 70 per cent Yezidi and the rest
Christian and Muslim.
Babashaikh, the Yezidi chief cleric ranked as a
bishop, is an elderly man who extends his hand to be
kissed when Yezidi men come to pay respects and take
seats round the courtyard of his home to be served
sweet tea in small glasses.
"Since the time of Noah, this has been our place,"
he said, making it clear that his people are
determined to stay and will continue worshipping in
their temples with their distinctive spires tipped
in gold.
Lalish, the site of the Yezidis' most sacred
shrines, is a short drive from Ain Sifni. Pilgrims
go barefoot in the holy precincts which contain two
springs and the tomb of Shaikh Adi, a 12th-century
mystic who is regarded as the father of Yezidism.
Although the faith has its roots in Mesopotamia's
ancient religions, it has incorporated elements from
Christianity and Islam.
Infants and children are brought here to be
baptised. Women come with large swatches of bright
silk, wet them in the springs and then tie them to
the six columns in the building where Shaikh Adi is
entombed.
They tie knots in the draperies and make wishes. The
overwhelming desire of all Yezidis who live in Iraq
during these deeply troubled days is for peace and
understanding among the country's conflicted
communities.
ireland com
Religious significance
The Kurdish Yazidis consider Melek Taus to be a benevolent
angel that has redeemed himself from his fall, and
has become a demiurge who created the cosmos from
the Cosmic Egg. After he repented, he cried for 7000
years, his tears filling 7 jars, which then quenched
the fires of hell.
Melek Taus is sometimes transliterated Malak Ta'us
or Malik Taws. In Semitic languages, malik variably
means "king" or "angel". Taus is
uncontroversially translated "peacock"; however, it
is important to note that peacocks are not, at least
currently, native to the lands where Melek Taus is
worshipped.
This has lead some to speculate that the worship of
Melek Taus was imported from India, though it is
more likely the peacock iconography is a development
from earlier representations depicting the god as a
native fowl, such as a bustard.
The Yazidi believe
that the founder of their religion, Sheikh Adi Ibn
Mustafa, was an avatar of Melek Taus. In art and
sculpture Melek Taus is depicted as peacock. The
Yazidi are thought to be unique in their depiction
of their primary god as a bird.
More About Yazidi From Wikipedia
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