PZ-Interview mit der Soziologin Miriam Geoghegan über die Lebensgewohnheiten der yezidischen Flüchtlinge aus dem Irak (Pforzheimer Zeitung interview with the sociologist Miriam Geoghegan about the lifestyle of the Yezidi refugees from Iraq) (original) (raw)
Related papers
IOM Iraq, 2021
Iraq recently adopted the Yazidi [Female] Survivors Law – a landmark bill that outlines and stipulates for a host of reparation benefits for survivors of the ISIS conflict, particularly Yazidi women and girls who survived conflict-related sexual violence. However, specific details regarding the implementation of the programme remain largely unclear. Participation of potential applicants to the programme’s design and implementation will play a significant role in its success. Although some past initiatives have brought decision-makers, survivors, and civil society together, the reparation programme must also be sure to meet the particular demands of Yazidi refugees that are currently forcibly displaced outside the territory of Iraq due to fears of persecution and devastating consequences of the genocide. The Yazidi [Female] Survivors Law does mention applications received from outside of Iraq, thus pointing to the existence of political will to include refugee survivors. Nonetheless, implementation should be designed with careful consideration to ensure both availability and accessibility. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews with 13 Yazidi women, this report provides an overview of reparation demands of Yazidi women living in Germany and their opinions regarding the new law and its future implementation. The interviewees are part of the Baden-Württemberg Special Quota Humanitarian Admission Programme that was announced in 2014 to provide medical and psychosocial support to Yazidi women and children who survived ISIS, through which 1,100 survivors arrived in Germany. The report concludes by offering decision-makers concrete recommendations for the implementation of reparations and development of secondary legislation (bylaws).
Yazidis: A community scattered in between geographies and its current immigration experience
International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, 2016
This study analyzes the forced exile experience of some of the members of the Yazidi population—highly concentrated in Northern Iraq—due to the attacks of ISIL organization. The immigration process including the feelings, thoughts, experiences and expectations of the participants is depicted through phenomenological method. The findings of the research point out that the Yazidi movement from northern Iraq stems from—as it happened many times before—religion-based discrimination rather than economic conditions back at home. Another important finding is that cultural codes coming from distant past and current real life experiences cause the Yazidis to aspire for a country in which they could feel safe. According to the participants, this ideal country primarily needs to hold a Kurdish identity both on cultural and linguistic levels and to embrace all different religious beliefs it shelters.
Introduction to the special issue: Yezidism and Yezidi Studies in the early 21st century
The articles in this volume deal with recent developments concerning the Yezidis. They focus on the consequences of ISIS' attempted genocide of Yezidis in the Sinjar region, and on aspects of the current public and academic discourse on Yezidis and their religion. Abstract in Kurmanji Destpêk bo hejmara taybet: Êzdiyatî û Lêkolînên li ser êzdiyan di serê sedsala 21an de Danasîna hejmara taybet: Êzdiyatî û xebatên li ser êzdiyan di destpêka sedsala 21em de. Nivîsarên vê hejmarê berê xwe didine têgihiştina rûdanên dawî yên derbarê êzidiyan de. Ev xebat dêneke taybet didine ser encamên hewla DAIŞê ya qirkirina êzdiyan li herêma Şengalê û cîhetên gotara/dîskûra giştî û akademîk li ser êzdiyan û dînê wan. Abstract in Sorani
IJMES Review of Yezidism in Europe (by Eszter Spät, 2011)
Eszter Spät, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 43, No. 3 (August 2011), Cambridge University Press, pp. 579-581. Philip Kreyenbroek's Yezidism in Europe is the third volume in what could be termed a "series on Yezidi religion." Yezidis are a Kurdish-speaking religious minority that originally lived in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, and Georgia. In the past few decades, political upheavals and economic difficulties have forced many members of the community to migrate to Western Europe (primarily Germany) and the states of the former Soviet Union. In their new envi ronments, they take on multiple minority identities, not only as "Turkish" or "Iraqi' migrants (depending on their country of origin) but also as "Kurds" and "adherents of Yezidism," a faith that is as radically different from Christianity as it is from the Sunni Islam that is practiced by Muslim Kurds. Because Yezidi religion is based not on books but rather on oral tradition, it does not fit into the confines of either Islam or any other of the religions of so-called "Peoples of the Book." This difference was the cause of considerable persecution in the past and led to Yezidis living on the social peripheries of their respective homelands.
Introduction to special issue: Yezidism and Yezidi Studies in the early 21st century
Kreyenbroek, Ph. and Omarkhali, Kh., ‘Introduction to special issue: Yezidism and Yezidi Studies in the early 21st century’, Kurdish Studies 4(2), Special issue: Yezidism and Yezidi Studies in the Early 21st Century, guest edited by Omarkhali, Kh. and Kreyenbroek, Ph., London, Transnational Press London, 2016, pp. 122–130. The articles in this volume deal with recent developments concerning the Yezidis. They focus on the consequences of IS’s attempted genocide of Yezidis in the Sinjar region, and on aspects of the current public and academic discourse on Yezidis and their religion.
A Look at the Yezidi Journey to Self-discovery and Ethnic Identity
Iran and the Caucasus, 2019
Yezidi communities throughout the world are struggling with their collective identity; each at a varying and somewhat differing stage of self-discovery. While the present paper does seek to elaborate upon this journey for the Yezidis in Transcaucasia, Germany, Can-ada, and the USA, its main focus remains the analysis of the political developments in the Yezidi heartland of Northern Iraq. This is so that the reader may have a fuller picture of the catalysts spurring this Yezidi reimagining. On the one hand, you have the traditional Ye-zidi leadership caught within a complex series of client-patron relationships with Kurdish leaders: ethnic identification is leveraged for promises of influence and power. While, on the other hand, newly minted Yezidi military commanders, as well as grassroot figures and Yezidi NGOs, are trying to establish themselves as heads of a Yezidi community that is undeniably distinct from their Kurdish neighbours. This paper will further show that the withdrawal of the Kurdish Peshmerga in the face of the ISIS attack in 2014, the half-hearted responses of the regional Kurdish and Federal Iraqi governments, all coupled with the stalled return of Yezidi refugees contributed to a growing Yezidi movement to cement their identity, as well as satiate a growing urgency to define themselves as a distinct ethno-religious entity.
Yezidism in Europe: Different Generations Speak about their Religion.
2009
Yezidism is a minority religion that is largely based on tradition rather than scripture. In the homelands - Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Transcaucasia - its world-view is closely connected with local culture, and most easily understood in that context. From the 1960s onwards, an increasing number of Yezidis from Turkey, Iraq and Syria were forced to migrate to Western Europe. After the fall of the Soviet Union many Yezidis from Armenia and Georgia moved to Russia and the Ukraine. This work addresses the question of differences in perception of the religion between Yezidi migrants who grew up in the homeland and those who were mainly socialised in the Diaspora. It is based on extensive qualitative research among Yezidis of different generations in Germany and Russia.
Conference Report: Return and Recovery of the Yezidi and Christian Minorities in Iraq
OPEN THINK TANK, 2019
Since 2014 and the rise of terrorism by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq, the Kurdistan Region turned into a haven and a home to a displaced religious, ethnic and cultural diversity in Iraq. Among the IDPs, there are Kurds, Yezidis, Chaldo-Assyrians, Turkmen, Armenians and Arabs, Kakais, Shabaks, etc. Meanwhile, the suffering was not limited to the Christian and Yezidi communities, but all the societies of both countries continue to suffer from the consequences of the ISIS’s reign of terror and the effects of the fight against the organization. This is especially true for ethnic and religious minorities that faced systematic persecution and displacement by the jihadi groups, mainly ISIS. However, Christian and Yezidi minorities were most targeted minorities of ISIS for two reasons. The first one is ideological as those two minorities are not Muslim. The second reason geographical. Areas were ISIS was mostly active in Iraq were mixed areas such as Ninihav plain and mountain Sinjar. . Since the beginning of the crisis, the Kurdistan Region hosts more than 300.000 Yezidi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the Ninawa Province, particularly from the Sinjar region. With a lack of serious reconstruction efforts in their home region, the Yezidi community in Iraq faces an uncertain future. Similarly, the once vibrant Iraqi Christian community has suffered years of oppression and displacement that have resulted in an ongoing exodus. Because of such trends, Iraq’s Christian community and heritage is at stake. The Popular Mobilization forces PMF also pose a series threat to the return of those IDPs to their areas. This state-owned militia has grown considerably in size, power and leverage. It controls massive areas in Iraq, including Christian and Yazidi areas. Members of PMF militia reject to withdrew from the IDPs areas or allow the return of the population using various pretexts, including the presence of mines and remnants of war, as well as allegations of the possible return of IS. It is important to mention here that PMF is in Sinjar mainly to have access to Syria. Similar is the case in the Anbar area. Currently, Kurdistan Region hosts nearly 1.5 million IDPs and refugees. According to the KRG Ministry of Interior’s Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC,), only 32000 of this number have either returned to their homes or migrated to a third country. This one-day conference focused on the current socio-economic and security situation of the Yezidi and Christian communities in Iraq. The conference aimed to identify the challenges that both communities face. In particular, it focused on identifying the needs of these minorities as well as on debating concrete policies and measures that can ensure the persistence of both Yezidis and Christians in Iraq.
Transformations in the Yezidi tradition after the ISIS attacks. An interview with Ilhan Kizilhan
Kurdish Studies, 2016
Professor Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan is a Yezidi transcultural psychologist. He is the Head of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction at the State University Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In that capacity he has made frequent visits to the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, as part of a project aiming to provide psychological aid to Yezidi women who escaped after being captured and enslaved by ISIS. Under ISIS, Yezidis suffered mass killings, forced conversion to Islam, torture, sexual slavery, and the abuse of their children as ISIS soldiers. In an interview with Khanna Omarkhali, Professor Kizilhan discusses his recent experiences.Keywords: Transformation of tradition; traumatized Yezidis; Yezidi women; ISIS; slavery. in KurmanjiVeguherînên di nerîtên êzdiyatiyê de piştî êrîşên DAIŞêHevpeyvînek ligel Ilhan KizilhanProfesor Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan derûnnasekî transkulturî yê êzdî ye. Li Almanyayê, li Zanîngeha Dewletî ya Baden-Württembergê, serokê beşa Tendurustiya Derûnî û Muptelayiyê ye. ...