To lose the Yezidis is to lose part of our own human heritage.

For comparative purposes the Yezidis calender is 4,750 years older than
the Christian or Western calender. Their calender is 990 years older
than the Jewish religious calender. The Yezidis is 5329 years older than
the Muslim Calender, currently the year 1427.

There are about 10 Yezidis families in London, Ontario. They are a most
interesting minority community. I thank Mirza Ismail for the invitation
to this celebration. I have had the privilege of representing Yezidis
refugees in the past.

Yezidis are largely based in Iraq but are also found in Syria, Turkey
and Iran. There are Yezidis also in Armenia and many have been forced to
flee their homeland and many now reside in Germany.

The Yezidi religion is the third largest religion in Iraq after Islam
and Christianity. The Yezidis religion was pioneered in Mesopotamia
during the Sumerian period four thousand years before BC. It must be
regarded as one of the oldest religions in the world, and consequently
has greatly influenced mankinds history. The Yezidis is the historical
fore bearer of Judaism and Christianity and Islam. It is contemporaneous
to Zoroastrianism and Mithraism.

The Yezidis ancient language is close to the Assyrian and Aramaic
languages. But, afterwards and due to the Islamic expansion the Yezidis
were exposed to the Arabic influences. Throughout history the Yezidis
have been subjected too much destruction and oppression. Their holy
books Jalwa and Musaf Rash were stolen. Their Holy Places destroyed.

Because, the Yezidis were different in religion, and had their own
separate unique culture, language and political structures they become
as victims of various forces that transverse the Middle East over the
past 6,000 years. Yet they survive to this day.

The Yezidis were exposed to a policy of expulsion and assimilation and
that is why they fled to the mountains and then many migrated to the
European countries especially, Germany in the last century from Turkey.
They were then followed by Yezidis from Syria and finally from Iraq. As
a result of the Iraqi Baath government policy which aimed to replace
Yezidis with Muslims of Arabic nationality on Yezidis agriculture lands
and driving the Yezidis from their own lands with the aid of an embargo.
This campaign severely affected the Yezidi social and economic
situation. Their plight has unfortunately been largely ignored by
mankind and in particular by the West in recent years.

In the recent years, the Kurdish Question has over shadowed the Yezidis
issue. It appears that the Kurds were trying to assimilate the Yezidis
and trying to obscure the Yezidi identity as a separate culture.

History shows that the Yezidis religion was pioneered and developed in
Mesopotamia, and we knew also that many other religions were born in
same area, like for example, Mithraism and Zoroastrianism. That means,
when those religions first came into existence, there were no nations
only religious social and political structures that made up the ancient
societies that existed in the birth place of human civilization. All
Middle Eastern societies and Western civilization owe a profound debt to
the religions that sprang from the fertile soils of Mesopotamia.

In terms of human history the concept of nationality is only recent
innovation of the last few hundred years. It followed the religious
political and social organization that governed most of human kind.
Yezidis are from that socio-religious tradition.

It is said that Yezidis religion may be the original Kurdish religion.
However, today the Kurds which comprise a nationality are not the same
as the Yezidis, although they speak the same language. Yezidis believe
in one God without any companion, and the seven Angels. Most of Kurds
have become Moslems and were deprived from their Yezidi religion, many
by force.

The Yezidis have preserved their religion in spite of the horror of
massacres, expulsions and assimilation and forced conversion. That means
not all Yezidis are Kurds, but that the Kurds were at one time Yezidis.
This point is important in that the Yezidis today are an independent
people, religion and culture. They should be recognized as such and
protected. They are an important part of our past.

Yezidis were there at the very beginning of human civilization. Above
all they are survivors. There are according to some authorities 650,000
to a million Yezidis today. Let us hope that the Yezidis continue to
thrive and prosper in the 21st Century as they are an important part of
our history and of humanity. To lose the Yezidis is to lose part of our
own human heritage.

http://www.malaezidiyan-berlin.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=116

WWW.AHRATA.COM

To lose the Yezidis is to lose part of our own human heritage.

To lose the Yezidis is to lose part of our own human heritage.

In the recent years, the Kurdish Question has over shadowed the Yezidis

issue. It appears that the Kurds were trying to assimilate the Yezidis

and trying to obscure the Yezidi identity as a separate culture.

It is said that Yezidis religion may be the original Kurdish religion.

However, today the Kurds which comprise a nationality are not the same

as the Yezidis, although they speak the same language. Yezidis believe

in one God without any companion, and the seven Angels. Most of Kurds

have become Moslems and were deprived from their Yezidi religion, many

by force.

The Yezidis have preserved their religion in spite of the horror of

massacres, expulsions and assimilation and forced conversion. That means

not all Yezidis are Kurds, but that the Kurds were at one time Yezidis.

This point is important in that the Yezidis today are an independent

people, religion and culture. They should be recognized as such and

protected. They are an important part of our past.

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