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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Aug 4 2013
Yezidis return to hometown, build guesthouse in Mardin
4 August 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, Ä°STANBUL
European Yezidis have collected donations and financed the building of
a guest and culture house in the province of Mardin in Turkey's
Southeast region in a bid to maintain their ties with their homeland,
the Taraf daily reported on Sunday.
There are only 500 Yezidis, a Kurdish religious group, in Turkey but
they have many relatives living in Europe. Some 6,000 Yezidis stepped
forward to help with the construction of the premises in Mardin, where
they can stay and worship according to their faith. The facilities
cost about TL 1 million lira.
The facility is scheduled to open on Aug. 14 and the inauguration
ceremony will host the governors of Mardin and Midyat, a district in
Mardin. It will mark the first Yezidi event with the participation of
state authorities.
The two-story guest and culture house, called Güven or Bacide, has 12
rooms for Yezidis to stay in during their visits to Mardin. In the
bottom floor, there are two large halls for worship, which Yezidis do
at sunrise and sunset. It took two years to finish the building of the
facility. In the coming years, a dome will be built on the house
similar to that of their main holy site in Lalish, which is in the
northeast of Mosul, Iraq.
A former Die Linke party deputy in Germany, Ali Atalan, also a Yezidi,
told the Taraf daily that the Yezidis, who moved to Europe 30 years
ago, have begun to fix their villages. `Following decades-long
migration in Europe, a historic guest and culture house was built in a
totally evacuated village. Never in history has the Yezidi community
been allowed to open their own culture and worship houses. The
existing culture and worship houses were either damaged or destroyed.
Therefore this house is priceless, symbolically,' he was quoted as
saying.
`The Yezidi faith is still not officially recognized in Turkey. The
identity card part about religion still reads `0' or `X' or simply has
a full stop. This [is] evidence that the citizens are not treated
equally because of their religion.
`I hope such insulting treatments that also violate human rights are
removed and the state stands in an equal [position with] all
religions. It is an important step that the [Mardin] governor has
announced he will attend the opening. If peace is aimed [for], it can
only be possible through a permanent democracy that serves everybody,'
Atalan continued to say.
The Yezidi faith is a religious sect linked to Zoroastrianism and
Sufism. The members of this faith commonly live in northern Iraq and
there are Yezidi communities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Syria and
parts of Europe.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-322771-yezidis-return-to-hometown-build-guesthouse-in-mardin.html
Aug 4 2013
Yezidis return to hometown, build guesthouse in Mardin
4 August 2013 /TODAY'S ZAMAN, Ä°STANBUL
European Yezidis have collected donations and financed the building of
a guest and culture house in the province of Mardin in Turkey's
Southeast region in a bid to maintain their ties with their homeland,
the Taraf daily reported on Sunday.
There are only 500 Yezidis, a Kurdish religious group, in Turkey but
they have many relatives living in Europe. Some 6,000 Yezidis stepped
forward to help with the construction of the premises in Mardin, where
they can stay and worship according to their faith. The facilities
cost about TL 1 million lira.
The facility is scheduled to open on Aug. 14 and the inauguration
ceremony will host the governors of Mardin and Midyat, a district in
Mardin. It will mark the first Yezidi event with the participation of
state authorities.
The two-story guest and culture house, called Güven or Bacide, has 12
rooms for Yezidis to stay in during their visits to Mardin. In the
bottom floor, there are two large halls for worship, which Yezidis do
at sunrise and sunset. It took two years to finish the building of the
facility. In the coming years, a dome will be built on the house
similar to that of their main holy site in Lalish, which is in the
northeast of Mosul, Iraq.
A former Die Linke party deputy in Germany, Ali Atalan, also a Yezidi,
told the Taraf daily that the Yezidis, who moved to Europe 30 years
ago, have begun to fix their villages. `Following decades-long
migration in Europe, a historic guest and culture house was built in a
totally evacuated village. Never in history has the Yezidi community
been allowed to open their own culture and worship houses. The
existing culture and worship houses were either damaged or destroyed.
Therefore this house is priceless, symbolically,' he was quoted as
saying.
`The Yezidi faith is still not officially recognized in Turkey. The
identity card part about religion still reads `0' or `X' or simply has
a full stop. This [is] evidence that the citizens are not treated
equally because of their religion.
`I hope such insulting treatments that also violate human rights are
removed and the state stands in an equal [position with] all
religions. It is an important step that the [Mardin] governor has
announced he will attend the opening. If peace is aimed [for], it can
only be possible through a permanent democracy that serves everybody,'
Atalan continued to say.
The Yezidi faith is a religious sect linked to Zoroastrianism and
Sufism. The members of this faith commonly live in northern Iraq and
there are Yezidi communities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Syria and
parts of Europe.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-322771-yezidis-return-to-hometown-build-guesthouse-in-mardin.html