Yazidis. Historical Landmarks of A Millennial Persecution

The History of some peoples happens to be an endless narration of persecution, oppression, bloodshed and anxiety for survival. The Yazidis are an exemplary case in this regard. Their History constitutes a long list of dates and events that all took the form of persecution and deprivation.

The Yazidi intellectual and political activist Mirza Donnayi published an article under the title ´Ezidi Genocide´; it could have been ´14 centuries of incessant strife for survival´. In the present article, I republish the part that covers events down to the abolition of the Ottoman Empire. The term ´Ezidies´ represents another form of transliteration of the national name of Yazidis in Western languages.

Ezidi Genocide

By Mirza Donnayi

http://www.ahrata.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=59&func=view&catid=3&id=106

It has been estimated that 23 million Ezidies have been killed by Moslems and their other self-proclaimed enemies during the past 700 years. And the Ezidi population continues to decrease. Just 200 years ago it was 2 million, but it is now estimated to be less than one million worldwide.

A current "incentive" to the ongoing slaughter is a belief that states that if a Moslem slays an Ezidi great awards await him or her in Heaven. If a Moslem man slays an Ezidi he is told that he will be rewarded with 72 virgins in the next world. Unless such "incentives" cease and this senseless killing is stopped the Ezidies could face permanent extinction. If this happens, the world will not only loose a very peaceful and unbiased people, but an irreplaceable link to its past.

The Ezidies, who originally migrated to Iraq from India, are currently the caretakers of the oldest religious tradition on Earth.

A slaughter of the Ezidies occurred in April, 2007, when 23 of them were murdered by Arab Moslems. But this is only the most recent attempt at Ezidi massacre by Moslem extremists. Beginning nearly twenty years ago Saddam Hussein instigated a pogrom of Ezidi extermination by labeling them "Devil Worshippers" and thereby triggered whole scale persecution by the Iraqi Moslems. Throughout the Middle East it was no secret that Saddam Hussein´s goal was systematic cultural genocide of the Ezidies. Under his savage regime the Ezidies were uprooted from their villages, their farmland taken, and they were denied both jobs and medical care. Approximately 250 Ezidi villages near Mosul in the Sinjar Mountains were destroyed, and the river Diyala, which supplies the Ezidi communities with drinking water, was contaminated with poisons. All the sacred sites of the Ezidies were vandalized and threatened. Although this pogrom was lifted briefly following the US invasion and Saddam´s capture, the harsh conditions appear to be returning. Arab Moslems are currently blocking food supplies to the Ezidi villages and they continue to prevent the Ezidies from cleaning up the poisons in their water supply. Ezidies cannot visit their relatives in many villages which have become Moslem controlled, and those Ezidies moving between villages risk both torture and death. Within the mosques adjacent to the Ezidi villages mullahs continue to speak about the "Devil worshipping Ezidies" and encourage their conversion to Islam or murder.

The following is a chronology of many of the 72 major attacks on their civilization that the Ezidies have endured since the seventh century A.D.: 630 AD. The Moslems started a series of wars against the Ezidies by killing and abducting many people.

637 A major war was instigated against the Ezidies, and then Moslems burned and destroyed much of their territory.

980 - 81 Islamic Kurdish armies surrounded the Ezidies living in the Hakkari region. They promised the Ezidies mercy if they surrendered to them but failed to keep their promise. Instead, most of the Ezidies were massacred. Those who survived were forced to convert to Islam.

1107 AD About 50,000 Ezidi families were destroyed during a period of Moslem expansionism.

1218 The Mongols under the leadership of Hulagu Khan reached the Ezidies and slaughtered many of them, but the Mongols met strong resistance from the Ezidi warriors and eventually retreated...

1245 - 52 Hulagu Khan´s armies resumed their battle against the Ezidies and slaughtered thousands of them.

1254 A conflict occurred between the Moslem Bader al-Din Lolo, the "Mayor of Mosul," and an Ezidi leader named Sheikh Hassan. Bader al-Din´s men captured Sheikh Hassan, executed him, and then hung his naked body on a Mosul gate where it could be seen by many other Ezidies. This event led to a war which the Ezidies lost, forcing them to flee to the mountains and leave behind their lands, villages, and temples. Everything the Ezidies left behind was destroyed. Even their most sacred shrine at Latish was desecrated, with the bones of their greatest saint, Sheikh Adi, being taken from his tomb and burned in front of the unbelieving Ezidies.

1414 A Persian leader named Jalal al-Din Mohammed bin Izildin Yousif al Halawani led an armed force against the Ezidies who were living in the Hakkari Mountains. His raid was supported by Kurds in the area. Most of the Ezidies descended from Sheikh Adi´s followers were killed, and the remaining bones of Sheikh Adi were taken from his tomb and burned in front of Ezidi hostages.

1585 A Kurdish leader named Ali Saidi Beg from Botan province attacked Ezidies living in Sinjar and killed more than 600 of them. The Ezidi women were abducted and raped by the conquerors in front of the Ezidies´ captured soldiers.

1640 - 41 Ezidi villages near Mosul were looted and other Ezidi villages were attacked by Ahmed Pasha, a Turkish Moslem Ottoman governor, along with 70,000 armed soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of Ezidies were killed.

1648 The Ezidi Sheikh Merza revolted against the Ottomans controlling Mosul who had previously beheaded his two brothers. The Ottoman general Shamsi Pasha was then summoned from Turkey to attack the Ezidies. Many Ezidies lost their lives and Sheikh Merza was beheaded.

1715 Hassan Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Baghdad, attacked the Ezidies with a huge army in order to punish them. Those Ezidies who were not killed were forced to flee into Syria. Pasha made an alliance with the local Arabs and then continued to attack the Ezidi unmercifully.

1733 The Ottoman Ahmed Pasha destroyed the Ezidi villages in the Zab river area and committed mass killings. This raid was followed by one under the leadership of Hussein Pasha that completely destroyed the Ezidi villages and forced 3000 Ezidies to convert to Islam.

1743 The Persian leader Nadir Shah guided his troops into Ezidi territory near the Zab River, about 30 km west of Mosul. They looted the villages and captured most of the Ezidies as hostages. Those that refused to obey were instantly killed.

1752 An Ottoman pasha named Sulaiman Pasha attacked the Ezidies in Sinjar. His campaign of killing and looting lasted two years. Three thousand Ezidies were killed and 500 women were taken as hostages.

1767 An Ottoman pasha and mayor of Mosul, Amin Pasha, had his son lead troops against the Ezidies living in Sinjar. He demanded the Ezidies to bring him 1000 sheep. When they brought only 800 he ordered his men to slay a large number of Ezidies.

1771 Bedagh Beg, one of the Ezidi leaders from Sheikhan, revolted against the Ottoman mayor of Mosul because he sought to convert the Ezidies to Islam. The Mosul Mayor allied with Bairam Beg, a Moslem Kurdish leader, to kill Bedagh Beg and most of his men.

1774 The Ottoman Mayor of Mosul, Sulaiman Oash, attacked the Ezidies in the Sinjar area. The Ezidi villages were looted and destroyed.

1779 The Ottoman Mayor of Mosul sent more military units into Ezidi territory of Sinjar. They looted and destroyed the villages and killed many Ezidi.

1785 The Ottoman Mayor of Mosul, Abdel Bagi, attacked the Ezidies in Sinjar to punish them. The Moslem soldiers were at first defeated, but then they allied with some Arab forces and routed the Ezidies.

1786 - 87 Ezidi rulers Cholo Beg and his forces went to war with the Moslem Kurdish leader of Amadiyah. Cholo Beg lost the battle and many Ezidies were killed.

1789 - 90 Ismail Beg, the Prince of Amadiyah, killed Cholo Beg and replaced him on the Ezidi throne with one of his relatives, Khanger Beg. When Khanger Beg retired soon afterwards, Hassan Beg, the son of Cholo Beg, was crowned in his stead. Hassan continued the rebellion of his father by revolting against the Amadiyah Prince Kifbad, during which soldiers from both sides were killed in great numbers.

1792 - 93 The Ottoman Mayor of Mosul, Mohammed Pasha Al-Jalili, destroyed and burned eight Ezidi villages in the Sinjar area.

1794 The Ottoman Mayor of Mosul resumed the attack on a village in Sinjar called Mehrcan to punish the Ezidies. But he failed and lost the ensuing battle.

1795 The Ottomans sent Sulaiman Pasha to Sinjar´s Ezidi villages. With the help of the Kurd Prince Abdullah Beg Kahin and Abdulrahman Pasha, the Prince of Sulaimania Kurdish government, he looted, incinerated, and completely destroyed the Ezidi villages. He also abducted and kidnapped 60 Ezidi women and 650 domestic animals.

1799 -1800 The Mayor of Baghdad, Abdul Aziz Beg Al-Shawi, destroyed 25 Ezidi villages in the Sheikhan region. Both women and children were abducted and 45 Ezidies were executed. Their heads were then brought to Baghdad as symbols of victory.

1802 - 3 The Mayor of Mosul, Ali Pasha, brought the administration of the Ezidies in the Sinjar region under his strict control. In doing so he found it necessary to attack some rebellious Ezidies from the north while overseeing an Arab raid on them from the south. The attack lasted for several months, during which several Ezidi villages were razed. The surviving Ezidies agreed to accept the rule of Ali Pasha even though they were forced to convert to Islam. When more Ezidies rebelled in 1807 the battle was resumed and 50 Ezidi villages were destroyed.

1809 -10 The Ottoman Mayor of Baghdad attacked the Ezidies in Sinjar. His army looted Sinjar, Mehrkan, and other Ezidi villages. Many Ezidies lost their lives.

1832 Bader Khan Beg, the Moslem Kurdish Prince of Botan, tortured and killed the Ezidi leader Ali Beg. The Moslem Kurds then committed an unprecedented massacre of thousands of Ezidies while destroying their villages. Many Ezidies tried to escape by traveling across the Tigris River. Most of them could not swim and were either drowned or captured. Those that were captured were given the option of converting to Islam or dying as martyrs.

1833 The Kurdish ruler of Rawandez attacked the Ezidies at Aqra in accordance with a religious mandate from Mulla Yahiya Al-Muzuri, a Kurdish Moslem leader. Five hundred Ezidies were killed in the upper Zab region. The Sinjar area was also attacked with many Ezidi lives lost.

1838 The Ottoman Mayor of Diyarbakir attacked the Ezidies in the Sinjar region and killed many of them. In the same year, the Ottoman Mayor of Mosul Tayar Pasha attacked the Jaddala area of Sinjar and ordered the Ezidies to pay taxes. When Tayar Pasha sent envoys to the Ezidies in Mehrkan village to hear the complaints of the Ezidies, the envoys were killed. Tayar Pasha sought vengeance and invaded the Ezidi villages. In order to protect themselves, the Ezidies withdrew to caves and tried to fight back by ambushing their enemy. Tayar Pasha had lost many men and he eventually retired back to Mosul. Peace was resumed in the Sinjar area.

1892 The Ezidies were attacked by the Ottoman leader Omer Wahbi Pasha. He gave the Ezidies the choice of converting to Islam or paying higher taxes, or death. The Ezidies resisted and Omar Pasha, in alliance with the Moslem Kurds, attacked the Ezidies in the Sinjar and Sheikhan regions. About 15,000 Ezidies were either killed or forced to accept Islam. The Pasha then attacked Lalish and the tomb of Sheikh Adi, carrying away to Mosul the sacred relics of the Ezidies. For seven years following this time the Lalish pilgrimage sanctuary was used as a Moslem school.

1906 The Mayor of Mezory, Mr. Saddeq Al-Dammalogi, received an order from the Mayor of Mosul to remove all Ezidies from Lalish and use the temple there as a Moslem school. The Ezidies were persuaded to leave Lalish for one year.

1914 -17 During the First World War the Ezidies assisted more than 20,000 Armenian people who fled from the Ottoman Turks. All these anti-Ezidi activities – and many more - have been documented by Islamic authors.

Note

Picture: Jilka Yazidis celebrate the famous Batizmiya feast.

From: http://m.aknews.com/en/aknews/1/99887/