The Reformation and Development of Yazidi Identity from Theoretical and Historical Perspectives

Abstract

The genocide of the Yazidi people that began on 3 August 2014, at the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), prompted a re-examination of the identity of the Yazidi as a religious minority. This article is, therefore, devoted to addressing the identity of the Yazidi who are in the process of transformation and reformation within the countries where they are located. This includes their existence in Kurdish territories and communities across different historical periods and theoretical contexts. This article will mostly focus on the scientific, historical, and political aspects of Yazidi identity. Despite the diversity of theories and hypotheses about the origins of the Yazidi people and their ethno-national affiliations, and the increasing rumours and allegations about Yazidis relating to their existence as a potential sub-ethnicity or ethno-religion or ethnic group, the important point that this study will show, is that the majority of Yazidis consider themselves religiously, culturally and historically different and distinct from other ethno-nationalist groups, nations and communities in the countries that host a Yazidi population.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the helpful editing and constructive commentaries of referees Joan Croker and Yan Lou on an earlier draft of this article, also, we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive commentaries that greatly contributed to improving the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

We have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Notes

1 Sometimes the spelling Yezidi is used in English and French scholarship, or the term Êzidî is employed in deference to Yazidi Kurmanji pronunciation. According to some Yazidi clerics, the terms Êzid or Yazid in their religious texts mean ‘God’, and Yazdai (or Azday) means ‘the Creator’. Azdan is derived from Yazdam or Azdam, meaning ‘who created me’, or ‘I, created by God’ in Yazidi Kurmanji. Therefore, Yazidi means ‘worshipper of the Creator’. This term is also closer to the Arabic pronunciation and corresponds to English.

2 This area is called ‘The disputed territories’ because of the dispute between the CGI and the KRI, due to article 140 of the Iraqi permanent constitution in 2005. It was not called the ‘disputed territories’ in Iraq from 1921 until 2003 (see: Ali, 2017, pp. 46, 293–295, for more details).

3 They speak Serbo-Croatian as their native language, and they seem to represent a united nation, but due to religious differences, Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Islam they do not consider themselves as such, and each of them has their own distinct culture.

4 Parsee, n. and adj. Oxford English Dictionary. oed.com. Retrieved from http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/138161

5 Pars, written by the Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parsi

6 There is controversy among scholars about the origin and classification of the Kurdish language. Some consider Kurmanji or Sorani or Zaza, Gorani etc, as independent languages, however some believe that they are just dialects. Some Studies consider Kurdish as being an Iranian language, belonging to the northwestern or southwestern group within that family. There is a large number of different dialects which may be classified into a number of more or less distinct groups that are not (or only very partially are) mutually understandable. The northern and northwestern dialects, usually called Kurmanji (a potential source of confusion is the fact that some southern tribes also call themselves Kurmanj), and consequently their language—Kurmanji, although it belongs to the southern group. For more see: (Mackenzie, 1961; Bruinessen, 1992, pp. 21–22; Matras, 2017).

7 Varto is an Armenian tribe, first noticed by John Frödin in 1944. In the late 1950s they were a rather diminutive group that migrated together with the Kurdish Teyyan tribe, with which they gradually merged. They then no longer spoke Armenian but Kurmanji (Kurdish), and had only a very rudimentary knowledge of Christianity. (See: Frödin, 1944, pp. 1–20; Hütteroth, 1959, p. 57).

8 In the understanding of Marxists, a nation is an ethnic community with a single language and self-consciousness. The term ‘ethnos’ was later introduced.

9 Yazidis pronounce his name in this manner, while in Arabic, it is pronounced Sheikh Uday.

10 For the case of Êzdîkî and Kurmanji term as a Yazidi language see: (Algin, 2018).

11 On the origin of the word Dāsini and that of the Yazidi religion, see: (Mizūrī, 2004, pp. 35–48).

12 The Dasiniyyans held the fortress of Duhok for some time in the early 16th-century and were allied with the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. At the same time, the territories of Erbil and Kirkuk were governed by Shiites Kurds allied to Shah Isma’il Safavi. After capturing Baghdad, Sultan Suleiman executed the Shiite prince of Erbil and Kirkuk and appointed in his place a Yazidi prince, Mir Husayn Beg Dasini, to govern Sorani fieldom (today Soran is a district of the Erbil governorate). See: (Açikyildiz, 2014, p. 49).

13 To discuss more about al-ʿAdawīya and the relation between Yazidi religion and Islam see: (Kreyenbroek & Rashow, 2005, pp. 4–5; Kreyenbroek, 1995, pp. 27–35).

14 The term milla or millet can refer to a community without the notion of a state or nation (Furlani, 1940). Millat it is an Islamic term, but in the Yazidi context it means people, and religion or religious nation.

15 See the petition of the Yazidi community leaders to Ottomans, ‘We, religious nation of the Dasiniyyans, cannot, in accordance with our religion, enter the military service. We prefer to give money instead of man, as the Assyrians and Jews do … ’, (Furlani, 1940, p. 61).

16 Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 г. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР [All-Union census of 1926. National composition of the population in the republics of the USSR]. Retrieved from http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/ussr_nac_26.php

17 Национальный исторический архив Грузии фонд №284, опись №1, том №1, дело №318, Л. № 237. [The National Historical Archive of Georgia, Fund No. 284, inventory No. 1, Vol.1, Case No. 318, L. No. 237].

18 Национальный исторический архив Грузии фонд №284, опись №1, том №1, дело №318, Л. № 229. [The National Historical Archive of Georgia, Fund No. 284, inventory No. 1, Vol.1, Case No. 318, L. No. 229].

19 The February Revolution, known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution, was the first of two revolutions which took place in Russia in 1917.

20 Всеобщая перепись населения Армении [General Census of Armenia]. Retrieved from http://www.armstat.am/file/doc/99484883.pdf.

21 Всеобщая перепись населения Грузии [General Census of Georgia]. Retrieved from https://www.geomigrant.com/2016/04/28/всеобщая-перепись-населения-грузии/.

22 Всеобщая перепись населения Армении [General Census of Armenia]. Retrieved from http://www.armstat.am/file/doc/99484883.pdf.

23 Всемирная зороастрийская организация: ‘Езидизм не является зороастризмом’ [the World Zoroastrian Organization: ‘Yazidism is not Zoroastrianism’]. Retrieved from http://www.ezidipress.com/ru/2014/05/08/всемирная-зороастрийская-организаци/.

24 The reasons why communism was so popular among Iraqi Yazidis is a separate question for another article.

25 Constitute, Iraq’s Constitution of 2005. Retrieved from https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Iraq_2005.pdf?lang=en

26 Article 7, which recognizes the Muslim identity of the majority of the people of Kurdistan. The principles of Islamic Shari‘a is [sic.] one of the sources of legislation. Michael J. Kelly, the Kurdish Regional Constitution within the Framework of the Iraqi Federal Constitution: A Struggle for Sovereignty, Oil, Ethnic Identity, and the Prospects for a Reverse Supremacy Clause. Penn State Law Review, 2010, p. 735. Retrieved from http://www.pennstatelawreview.org/articles/114/114%20Penn%20St.%20L.%20Rev.%20707.pdf

27 He is the HRW Deputy Director for the Middle East, November 10, 2009, ‘Iraq: Protect Besieged Minorities: Yazidis, Shabaks, and Christians Caught in Kurdish-Arab Contest for Control’. Retrieved November 10, 2009 from http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/11/10/iraq-protect-besieged-minorities

28 The Shabak live in several villages in the Disputed Areas in northern Iraq. They differ religiously and ethnically from the rest of the inhabitants of Iraq. For more details about Shabak see: (Moosa, 1988; pp. 1–9).

29 The Institute for International Law and Human Rights, ‘Iraq’s Minorities and Other Vulnerable Groups: Legal Framework, Documentation and Human Rights’. Retrieved from http://lawandhumanrights.org/documents/MinorityHB_EN.pdf.

30 After the PKK-affiliated forces rescued the Yazidis in the absence of the Peshmerga, they helped the Yazidis form a local militia known as the Sinjar Resistance Units/ Yekîneyên Berxwedana Şengalê (YBŞ).

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from a public, commercial, or non-profit agency.