Yezidis Speak Out

On this page we will post letters from the prominent leaders of the Yezidi communities and organizations, or any Yezidi announcements and correspondence that are helpful or relevant to the Yezidis' cause.

Mirza Ismail and the London Yezidis Group

Received Saturday, August 9, 2008: 

Hi My Name is Barzan Shingali, This letter is from the Yezidi Community from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Canada! 

As you guys know about the Sinjar attack on 14 August 2007, the Attack was made by the Sunni Arabs of Mousil and the Turkmens from Turkey!  The KDP and the "Kurdistan Regional Government" (KRG) had nothing to do with this attack.  It is True in April 2007, the attacks on the city of Shikhan was made by Kurdish Terrorism. The KDP and the Kurdistan Regional Government as well as the Kurdish People in Iraqi Kurdistan were very helpful by donating blood and clothes as well as food and water.  Yezidis are true Kurds and they speak Kurdish!  In the future following months, Sinjar city will became part of the "Kurdistan Regional Government", The Yezidi Kurds of Sinjar city are waiting for Article 140 so that Sinjar and Kirkuk Provinces can become part of the "Kurdistan Regional Government".   We hope in the future - by December 1st 2008, Sinjar Province can become part of the "Kurdistan Regional Government".  The Yezidis from London Ontario Canada, and Lincoln Nebraska USA, are all anti Kurds!  We Yezidis have nothing to do with Iraq and we are not Iraqi, we don't want to be Iraqi. The Yezidis in London Canada and in Lincoln Nebraska all wear Arab Clothes and (AGAL).  Why are they wearing Arab clothing?  They also raise the Iraqi flag when more than 50,000 Yezidis were murdered by Saddam Hussein in the 70's , 80's and 90's!  Our Yezidi Community from Moose Jaw Saskatchewan Canada all came here to Canada because of Saddam Hussein!   We love our country Kurdistan and we love our President "Masoud Barzani".   We would please ask for "Kurdistan Regional Government" (KRG) to help the Yezidi Kurds in the cities of Sinjar, Shiekhan, Bahshik and Bahzani as well as other cities in Kurdistan! For many years, we were under the hands of Saddam Hussein and his stupid "BAATH GOVERNMENT", everyday Yezidis were executed by Saddam Hussein's Baath Party! Yezidis were always Kurds, and they were the first Kurds on earth but Saddam Hussein forced all of them to be "SUNNI ARABS"!  Right now there is still killing going on in Sinjar Province right now becuase Sunni Arabs kill Yezidi Kurds!  The Arabs and Turks hate Yezidis right now because they Yezidis finally got their freedom, they are free and they are offical Kurds!  They are free from the dictatorship Saddam Hussein!  I have a question for the Yezidi Community in London Canada and in Lincoln Nebraska:  "If the Yezidis are really offical Iraqi's and they belong to Iraq, why do they speak Kurdish and why do they live in Northern Iraq?
 
Most Respectfully,
 
Barzan Shingali   Kasem Rasho   Kama Barjas   Rizgin Alias   Ismail Alias   Jamal Sheikani  

Recieved June 08, 2008:

June 6, 2008

Their Excellencies,

The Honorable Mr. George W. Bush, 

President of the United States

The Honorable Mr. Stephen Harper

Prime Minister of Canada

The Honorable Mr. Ban Ki-moon,

Secretary-General of the United Nations

The Honorable Mr. Alex Neve,

Secretary General of Amnesty International-Canada

The Honorable Miss. Kathryn White,

Executive Director of United Nations Association in Canada

Your Excellencies,

Our community of Canadian Yezidis is very sensitive to any human rights violations perpetrated against those who are struggling to be heard by and to participate in the governments of their respective nations.  As Yezidis, we are particularly concerned with the violation of these rights among the Yezidi people of Iraq, many of whom are currently feeling the need to flee to Europe just to protect themselves and their families from inhuman treatment.  We would like to bring to your attention some of the more vicious human rights violations and attacks perpetrated against the Yezidis of Iraq since the removal of the previous regime of Saddam Hussein by US and Great Britain forces in March of 2003:

1. Along with other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq the Yezidis have continuously been misclassified as either Arabs or Kurds, and their voting rights have thereby been violated. The registration and ballot irregularities that have ensued have served to erase the Yezidis' distinctness as a people and not given them their rightful voice in political decisions. 

2. On Thursday, May 29, 2008, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police recruiting center, killing 24 mostly were Yezidis and wounding 23 others.  Among the 24 dead, most were innocent civilians trying to register to receive public assistance and/or to serve in the police and military forces. About one week prior to this attack, the Iraqi prime minister, Hon. Nouri al-Maliki, said in a radio address in Nineveh province that the Yezidis and Chaldo-Assyrians should join the police and military forces for better security and protection.  We believed at the time that if the Yezidis and the other 4-5 ethnic groups in the region could administer security in the Nineveh Plain it would be better for everyone. But the Kurdish Authority resisted any change in the administration and safety of the Nineveh Plain. And it continues to govern this region illegally and by force.

3. The Yezidis settled and living in the northern Iraqi Yezidi territory, as well as those in the Chaldo-Assyrian, Shabak and Turkman regions, have been ignored by both the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad ’s Federal Government for any public assistance. This has been especially noticeable in the Sinjar region of Iraq, where Yezidis make up more than 85% of the population. In this region public assistance programs are either non-existent or extremely deficient in regards to the administration and dispensation of clean drinking water, hospitals and healthcare, public schools, food products and food stamps, employment, and perhaps most importantly, the security of the region.

4. On August 14, 2007, the most deadliest of all the recent terrorists attacks against the Yezidis occurred in the Yezidi villages of Kahataniya and Al-Jazeera in the district of Sinjar, located in northwest Iraq. Four hundred Yezidis were massacred in the attack, 300 were wounded, and another 70 went missing.  After the explosions in these two Yezidis villages, one of the terrorists was captured by the Iraqi military and the Kurdish government took him first to Dohuk province and then to Sinjar.  About one month ago, Brigadier General of Sinjar military camp Mr. Hassan Artoshi and Mr. Serbast Tranishi, the chief leader of the KDP’s headquarter in Sinjar of the Kurdish secret services, called upon the innocent Yezidis who were wounded and the families of the slain victims of the attack to come to court and cancel their criminal case against the terrorists. This is an abomination against human rights and irrefutable proof that the Kurdish Regional Government has been a partner in the crimes against the Yezidis. In view of these circumstances it should be the responsibility of the UN and the International Community to bring these criminals to an international court of justice.  Let it be known: these were not natural disasters.  They were attempts at mass extermination of the Yezidis orchestrated by the KRG and its partners.

5. Another of KRG’s crimes against humanity is the case of Dr. Kamal Sayid Qadir, who was attacked by Masrour Barzani, the son of Massoud Barzani,(president of Kurdish Regional Government) and his body guards in Vienna, Austria. To learn more about this outrageous attack on Dr. Kamal Sayid Qadir, please visit this link: http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc022608KA1.html

6. On February 15, 2007, during the Yezidis’ Easter celebration, the Kurds and their militias attacked the Yezidis of the Ayn Sifini, district of Shaykhan. They burned two Yezidis Cultural Centers and a temple there. They also burned two resident homes; they set three cars on fire; and they destroyed and looted some variety stores and a liquor store.

7. In the Nineveh Plain region more than two million Yezidis, Chaldo-Assyrians, Turkmens and Shabaks have categorically refused to be re-made into Kurds. But the Kurds are amalgamating all the inhabitants of the huge Nineveh Plain by force and calling them "Kurds" of Kurdistan. During the Iraqi elections of 2005 the Kurdish government prevented ballot boxes from reaching this region, so its diverse inhabitants were not allowed a vote. What the Kurds have been doing in this region is a great crime against humanity.  KDP and PUK offices have been built in even the smallest villages.  Clerics and clan leaders are been bribed, and innocent civilians are being killed, tortured, imprisoned and raped.

8. since 2005 and continuing even today, officials of the Yezidi Political Movement for Reform and Progress have been oppressed while receiving threats in an extremely aggressive way from the KRG.  The USA , Great Britain and their allies removed the oppressive, dictatorial regime of Saddam in order to free all Iraqis. But now, under the power of the Kurdistan Regional Government and their militias, the crimes against humanity and human rights violations in northern Iraq are more prevalent than they were during the previous regime.

Thus, the situation of the Iraqi Yezidis is dire. Violations are constantly taking place, and if nothing is done the Yezidis of Iraq will continue to suffer and struggle mercilessly. Eventually, the Yezidis will be forcefully integrated into the Kurdish majority. Those who resist in this conversion to become "Kurds" will continue to be victims of oppression and racial discrimination within their own country.

We are Yezidis and want to be recognized as what we are (Yezidis)…

As United States President, the Canadian Prime Minister, the United Nations Secretary, the Secretary of Amnesty International-Canada, the Executive Director of the United Nations Association in

To insure Yezidi survival we request your immediate assistance in the following:

• Close monitoring of the new Iraqi constitution and the upcoming provincial elections, which will possibly be held in October, 2008. Please help ensure that the Yezidis are represented in the new democratic government of Iraq.
• An immediate pullout of all Kurdish Political Offices and their militias from the Nineveh Plain, and the Yezidi areas of Sinjar and Shaykhan in particular. The Kurds are not obeying democratic and international laws and must be expelled.
• The Yezidis must be identified as Yezidis in both ethnicity and religion, not as Kurds or Arabs. And their rights must be protected in the Iraqi constitution and by International law.
• An immediate United Nations team to investigate the two Yezidis villages that were attacked by terrorists on Aug. 14, 2007 and killed hundreds of innocent Yezidis.  Documented evidence exists that reveals that the local Kurdish authority was a partner in these crimes against humanity.  The U.N. and the International Community must be able to investigate this incident. They need to take all possible measures and remove the Kurdish authority from the Yezidi regions.  Only then can the Yezidis live in peace and freedom.
• The Nineveh Plain, including Sinjar and Shaykhan in particular (the Yezidis’ regions), should become a separate autonomous state within Iraq. This will be a key element in bringing stability and democracy to Iraq. It will allow Iraq’s most ancient and vulnerable people to be a meaningful and participatory component of a new democratic Iraq.  Moreover, it will be the only way that the attacks will end against the innocent ethnic groups that include the Yezidis, Chaldo-Assyrians, Armenians and others.

Most Respectfully,

Mirza Ismail              Dawood Dawood           Kheder Dakko               Hadji Khalil

Officials of the London Yezidis Community 

Received Nov. 20, 2007:

• An immediate United Nations Investigation team of the two Yezidi villages that were attacked by terrorists on Aug. 14, 2007 killing hundreds of innocent Yezidis.  There is documentary evidence that the local Kurdish authority was a partner in these crimes against humanity. The U.N. and International communities must be able to investigate this incident, take all possible measures and remove the Kurdish authority from the Yezidis’ regions. The Yezidis can then live in peace and freedom.
• An immediate pullout of all Kurdish militias from Yezidis areas. The Kurds must obey Democratic and International laws.  We do not want them in our life.  Additionally, Mr. Barazani should be able to remove his militias from our regions and take them back to Dohuk, Erbil , Sulymaniyah, etc.
• Immediate International Humanitarian aid to the Yezidi regions. They have been suffering since Feb. 2007 because needed food products and other human necessities have been blocked from reaching the Yezidis. Nobody seems to be concerned about this. The Yezidis are human beings. They need Food products, Education, Medical-care, Jobs, and immediate shelters for those victims of the attack on Aug. 14, 2007, which was the deadliest terror attack in Iraq since the war began in 2003. 
• The Yezidis must be identified as Yezidis, not as Kurds or Arabs, and their rights must protected in the Iraqi constitution and by International law.

Received Saturday, September 29, 2007 from Yezidis in Iraq: 

• Send immediately sufficiently and durably Peshmerga units to Shingal, in order to protect the Kurdish yezidi  population effectively!
• If you are not able to send Peshmerga troops, organize, finance and realize immediately measures, so that the Kurdish yezidi population can protect itself!
• Smash the developed blockades, so that humanitarian assistance arrives also areas where it is urgently needed!
• Furnish a protected passage from Shingal to the areas of the KRG for further humanitarian assistance!
• If you follow your moral obligations, stand materially and morally by the side of the Kurdish yezidi population in Shingal!

We like to ask you insistently - with this open letter, which will be published on different internet sites - notice  your obligations for the protection and security of the Kurds not only within the borders of the KRG but in particular for Kurds and Kurdish areas outside of the KRG before further murderous attacks, like the last.

Best Regards

(Open letter initiated by the community of www.kurdmania.com)

Received August 31, 2007 from the leader of the London Yezidis Group in Canada:

URGENT HELP IS NEEDED!

August 31, 2007

Christian Churches ,

Dear Fathers, Pastors, Priests, Ministers, and Sisters,

On August 14, 2007 the Yezidis of Kahataniya and Al-Jazeera in the district of Sinjar-Iraq (Yezidis Region) have gone through a disaster terror bombing, in these two towns more than 750 innocent  children, women, Adults, and elderly of Yezidis have been killed and more 600 Yezidis have been injured and many others still missing.  As a Yezidis, we have been attacked 72 times by Islamic extremist and terror group in the past 800 – 1100 years ago and their attacks continues against this small innocent ethnic and faith group of the Yezidis throughout the Middle Eastern region.  As the Yezidis we have lost millions of innocent Yezidis by those extremists and terror group.

As the Yezidis, we urgently ask for your assistance and help to let the world know what hard life we have been through and put pressure on Western Governments to protect us from those Islamic extremists and terror group attacks against this innocent and ancient nation.

As a small London Yezidis Community here in Ontario- Canada , we are urging you for any humanitarian aid and peacekeeping mission to the Yezidis region in Iraq .

Note:  If there is any humanitarian aid to this region, please make sure that the aid to be given out to those victims’ families and relatives by International  and Church organizations, otherwise if it given out by Kurdish Authorities and local government those innocent Yezidis won’t get 5% of the aid donations, as this act has already happened in this region, and if somebody speaks out about their rights they would be gunned down by Kurdish militias.

On behalf of the London Yezidis Community, I would like to thank you very much for your time and considerations.

For more information, please contact the following:

Peace always,

Mirza Ismail                    Kheder Dakko           Dawood Dawood      Hadji Khalil

210-1237 Huron St          H.               (519) 453-4952             H.              (519) 451-1238            H.               (519)455-0795       

London , ON N5Y 4L3     Cell:               519-615-4952                                          Cell:              519-694-8227       

H.               (519) 951-7047       

This is the press release recently produced (August 23, 2007) by the author of this website www.YezidiTruth.org:

Yezidi Leader, now in U.S., seeks immediate end to genocide of Yezidi people in Iraq

Sedona, AZ (PRWEB) August 23, 2007 -- Kawwal Khoudeida Hasan, the leader of a community of about 50 Yezidi families now living in Lincoln, Nebraska, is pleading with the U.S. Congress and with the United Nations to stop the genocide of the Yezidis, a Kurdish people in Iraq with a unique history and religion.

Kawwal Hasan is a Faqir of the Shiekh Caste, the highest caste of the Yezidis. The Faqirs are the priests and preservers of the ancient histories and rites of the Yezidis. After fleeing Iraq, Kawwal and his family lived for several years in a refugee camp in Syria before arriving in the USA ten years ago.

According to Kawwal, Genocide is occurring at this moment in northern Iraq to the Yezidis, a Kurdish people with a unique history and religion. Their persecution is coming at the hands of Islamic militants, who for centuries have slaughtered all Yezidis who have refused to convert to their religion.

On April 22, 2007, the world became shockingly aware of the Yezidi plight when 23 of them were lined up and systematically gunned down by a firing squad of Moslem Kurds. A few days later, 3 more Yezidi men were gunned down by Moslem extremists in the city of Mosul, thus bringing the total of Yezidi murders to 34 during the three month period from March to May, 2007.

Most recently, on August 12, 2007, the drivers of four bomb-laden trucks detonated their loads after driving into two residential areas near the town of Qahataniya, 75 miles west of Mosul, killing at least 250 Yezidis and injuring at least 500 more. This attack occurred in an area principally occupied by Faqirs, members of the Yezidi priest class, thus indicating that the ultimate goal of the culprits was apparently to strike at the jugular of the Yezidi religion by destroying its priests.

Malicious attacks against the Yezidis have occurred since the advent of Islam, and even before, when blood-thirsty bands from the East attempted to conquer them. According to their own accounting, the Yezidis arrived in the Middle East around 2000 BCE from India. Then, over the ensuing years, they played important roles in the evolution of the Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations before becoming permanently settled in their present territory in northern Iraq. Since the advent of Islam in the seventh century they have been repeatedly attacked by Moslems, as well as Mongol armies from the east and deadly Ottoman Turks sweeping down from the north and west. Yezidi priests estimate that over the centuries nearly 23 million of their people have been slain during the 72 major attacks against them.

Saddam Hussein's Baath Party stirred up fresh hatred against the Yezidis 20-30 years ago and attacks against them began to come from their own Moslem countrymen, many of whom were their distant relatives.The Yezidis suddenly found themselves besieged by Kurdish families who over the centuries had been forced to surrender their native Yezidi faith and convert to Islam. Saddam made it his agenda to exterminate the Yezidi by poisoning many of their water sources. Then, following Saddam's overthrow and a momentary countrywide ceasefire in Iraq, the attacks resumed against the Yezidis.

Recent attacks

The most recent outbreak of attacks are some of the most difficult because they have been accompanied by the sabotage Yezidi relief food and water arriving from the international community. For the past seven months Moslem officials of the Iraqi government in northern Iraq have regularly diverted Yezidi food and water to other Moslems. This situation has been compounded by the fact that most Yezidi wells currently produce mostly bitter and toxic water. Thus, without help the Yezidis risk both famine and dehydration. But the Yezidis are terrified to speak against their persecutors. They fear retaliation against themselves and their families.

Peaceful People

The Yezidis are a peaceful people. All they ask is to be able to live and worship in freedom. Their relationship with non-militant Moslems and people of all religious faiths has always been peaceful and inter-supportive. The Yezidis have no animosity towards their Moslem neighbors and would even like to nurture their friendly Moslem relationships. Many Yezidis live in Moslem communities and attend Moslem schools. Their best friends, in some cases, are Moslem.

During Saddam's regime many Yezidis fled to Europe, America, and other parts of the world for sanctuary, but those who remained behind want to remain on their ancestral land and perpetuate the religion and culture of their ancestors. Their most important shrine is Lalish, a temple city in northern Iraq that holds the tombs of the Yezidis' most important saints and the place they retreat to in times of attack. It is important for the Yezidis to preserve their holy shrines and the doctrines of their religion, which their priests claim to be the oldest in the world. They can trace it back at least 6,000 years.Certain authors, such as G.I. Gurdjieff, have written about the uniqueness of the Yezidi ancient religion. It would certainly be a tragedy for the Yezidis, as well as the entire world, if it was lost now. We all stand to lose an important living record of humankind's ancient history.

During their history the Yezidis have often come to the aid of other embattled religions, such as Christianity. Now they need some of their compassionate aid returned to them. Early in the last century, when Christians living in Turkey fled from Moslem Turks during the Turko-Armenian War, the Yezidis offered their homes to hide the refugee Christians. They even paid a ransom of gold pieces to buy Christians from their Moslem captures. The Yezidis are appealing to their Christian brothers and sisters, as well as people of all faiths, to come to their rescue now.

What the Yezidis Seek

These peaceful people simply request that the bare necessities of food and water reach them as they did just seven months ago. But they also request protection from their Moslem neighbors so that their ancient culture can survive.

The Yezidis need the active intervention of the U.S. Congress, the United Nations, progressive nations throughout the world, and help from international organizations to survive this genocide.

If you would like to help the Yezidis please contact your representatives, and the media and inform them of the genocide of the Yezidi now occurring in Iraq. Let them know what the Yezidis need in order to survive.

For more information on the Yezidis, their history, and their plight, please visit www.YezidiTruth.org.

For information & for interviews with Kawwal Khoudeida Hasan, please contact:

Mark Amaru Pinkham, Sedona, Arizona USA

Tel:               928-284-1429           Email: YezidiTruth @ gmail.com

Website: www.YezidiTruth.org

To listen to a special radio program on the Yezidis, broadcast on Vancouver Coop Radio CFRO 102.7 FM, please access the audio archives here:

Part I

http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics_radio/2007/08/coopradioorg-ge.html

Part II

http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics_radio/2007/08/coopradioorg--1.html