Persecution of Yazidis

The persecution of Yazidis has been ongoing since at least 637 CE. Yazidis are an endogamous and mostly Kurmanji-speaking minority, indigenous to Kurdistan, who had also been persecuted when they followed Adawiyya, the predecessor of the Yazidi religion, which has historically been regarded as "devil-worship" among the followers of Abrahamic religions, primarily among Muslims and is still described as such by some, especially by Islamic extremists. Yazidis have been persecuted by surrounding Muslim state entities and groups since the medieval ages, most notably by ^{[citation needed]} Ottomans, neighbouring Muslim Arab and Kurdish tribes and principalities. After the 2014 Sinjar massacre of thousands of Yazidis by ISIL, which started the ethnic, cultural, and religious genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq, Yazidis still face discrimination from the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

After some Kurdish tribes became Islamized in the 10th century, they joined in the persecution of Yazidis in the Hakkari mountains. Due to their religion, Muslim Kurds persecuted and attacked the Yazidis with particular brutality. Sometimes, during these massacres, Muslim Kurds tried to force the Yazidis to convert to Islam. Massacres by Muslim Kurds and Turks in the 19th century nearly eradicated the Yazidi population.

In 1254, Sheikh Adī's grand-nephew al-Ḥasan b. 'Adī together with 200 of his supporters were executed by Badr al-Din Lu'Lu, who was a Kurd convert to Islam and Zangid governor of Mosul, Sheikh Adi's tomb at Lalish was then desecrated.

In 1415, a Shāfi'ī theologian, 'Izz al-Dīn al Hulwānī, with the military support of the Sunni Kurds of the Sindi tribe and the lord of Ḥiṣn Kayfā, attacked Lalish and burnt down the temple. The Yazidis later rebuilt their temple and the tomb of Sheikh Adi.

In the year 1585, the Yazidis in the Sinjar Mountains were attacked by the Sunni Kurds from Bohtan.

In the year 1832, about 70,000 Yazidis were killed by the Sunni Kurdish princes Bedir Khan Beg and Muhammad Pasha of Rawanduz. During his research trips in 1843, the Russian traveller and orientalist Ilya Berezin mentioned that 7,000 Yazidis were killed by Kurds of Rawandiz on the hills of Nineveh near Mosul, shortly before his arrival. According to many historical reports,^[which?] the Bedir Khan massacres can today be classified as a genocide.

In 1831, Muhammad Pasha massacred the people of the Kellek village. He then went northward and attacked the entire Yazidi-inhabited foothill country which was located east of Mosul. Some Yazidis managed to take refuge in the neighboring forests and mountain fastnesses, and a few of them managed to escape to distant places.

In 1832, Muhammad Pasha and his troops committed a massacre against the Yazidis in Khatarah. Subsequently, they attacked the Yazidis in Shekhan and killed many of them. In another attempt he and his troops occupied over 300 Yazidi villages. The emir kidnapped over 10,000 Yazidis and sent them to Rawandiz and gave them the ultimatum of converting to Islam or being killed. Most of them converted to Islam and those who refused to convert to Islam were killed.