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Facts on Iraq's Yazidi Minority

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  • Facts on Iraq's Yazidi Minority

    Assyrian International News Agency (AINA)
    Aug 3 2014

    Facts on Iraq's Yazidi Minority

    Posted 2014-08-03 18:51 GMT


    (AFP) -- The Yazidi minority faces a struggle for survival in Iraq
    after their bastion Sinjar was taken over Sunday by Islamic State
    jihadists, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee.

    The existence of the small Kurdish-speaking community on its ancestral
    land is now critically endangered. Here are a few facts about the
    Yazidis:

    - The largest community is in Iraq -- 600,000 people according to the
    highest Yazidi estimates, but barely 100,000 according to others --
    while a few thousand are also found in Syria, Turkey, Armenia and
    Georgia. They are mostly impoverished farmers and herders.

    - They follow a faith born in Mesopotamia more than 4,000 years ago.
    It is rooted in Zoroastrianism but has over time blended in elements
    of Islam and Christianity. Yazidis pray to God three times a day
    facing the sun and worship his seven angels -- the most important of
    which is Melek Taus, or Peacock Angel.

    - Yazidis discourage marriage outside the community and even across
    their caste system. Their unique beliefs and practices -- some are
    known to refrain from eating lettuce and wearing the colour blue --
    have often been misconstrued as satanic. Orthodox Muslims consider the
    Peacock a demon figure and refer to Yazidis as devil-worshippers.

    - As non-Arab and non-Muslim Iraqis, they have long been one of the
    country's most vulnerable minorities. Persecution under Saddam Hussein
    forced thousands of families to flee the country. Germany is home to
    the largest community abroad, with an estimated 40,000.

    - Massive truck bombs almost entirely destroyed two small Yazidi
    villages in northern Iraq on August 14, 2007. More than 400 people
    died in the explosions, the single deadliest attack since the 2003
    US-led invasion.

    http://www.aina.org/news/20140803145121.htm




    From: A. Papazian
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