| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Non-Moslem Yezidis Being Poisoned in Iraq |
| 2004-03-11 |
| The Kurdistan Democratic Party’s newspaper "Al-Ta’akhi" published a report on 10 March claiming that some 300-400 individuals from a Yezidi village in northern Iraq have been poisoned. The newspaper reported that terrorism is suspected, because pamphlets posted on walls in and around the city of Mosul said that whoever kills Yezidis will be rewarded by God. Meanwhile, London’s "Al-Quds al-Arabi" reported the same day that the Iraqi Communist Party has issued an appeal for aid for the village of Khanik, where the poisoning cases were first reported. The appeal claims that the Kurdish authorities "have shown no interest," adding that the situation is extremely serious as the village’s only physician has died from poisoning. The appeal said that Yezidi farms were poisoned, and a second statement by the Communist Party posted on albasrah.net said the village’s water supply was also poisoned. The appeal noted that the Yezidis are a peaceful sect "that has never harmed anyone" and is "the only remnant of the religious and ethnic groups of the Sumerian civilization." It referred to attempts to obliterate the sect as genocide and "a major conspiracy against the ancient heritage of Iraq." Encyclopedia article The Yazidi are adherents of a small Middle Eastern religion with ancient origins. They are primarily ethnic Kurds, and most Yazidis live in Iraq and Syria with smaller communities in Turkey and Armenia. There are also Yazidi refugees in Germany. The Yazidi worship Malak Ta’us, apparently a pre-Islamic peacock god with links to Mithraism and, through it, to Zoroastrianism. The Yazidi maintain a well-preserved culture, rich in traditions and customs. In the region that is now Iraq, the Yazidi have been oppressed and labeled as devil worshippers for centuries. During the reign of Saddam Hussein, however, they were considered to be Arabs and maneuvered to oppose the Kurds, in order to tilt the ethnic balance in northern Iraq. Since the 2003 occupation of Iraq, the Kurds want the Yazidi to be recognized as ethnic Kurds. ... Yezidi faith contains elements of Manicheism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Gnostic and pre-islamic beliefs. It might be based on the original religion of the Kurds. In about 1162, Sheik-Adi Ibin Mustafa radically reformed the religion, so that some believe the previous form was a different religion from current belief. Different clans may also have different interpretations. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |