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Tawûsî Melek is one of the central figures of the Yazidi religion. In Yazidi creation stories, before the creation of this world, God created seven Divine Beings, of whom Tawûsî Melek was appointed as the leader. God assigned all of the world's affairs to these seven Divine Beings, also often referred to as the Seven Angels or heft sirr.
Kurdish is written using either of two alphabets: the Latin-based Bedirxan or Hawar alphabet, introduced by Celadet Alî Bedirxan in 1932 and popularized through the Hawar magazine, and the Kurdo-Arabic alphabet. The Kurdistan Region has agreed upon a standard for Central Kurdish, implemented in Unicode for computation purposes. The Hawar alphabet is primarily used in Syria and Turkey, while the Kurdo-Arabic alphabet is commonly used in Iraq and Iran. The Hawar alphabet is also used to some extent in Iraqi Kurdistan. Two additional alphabets, based on the Armenian and Cyrillic scripts, were once used by Kurds in the Soviet Union, most notably in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic and Kurdistansky Uyezd.
Yazidism, also known as Sharfadin, is a monotheistic ethnic religion that originated in Kurdistan and has roots in pre-Zoroastrian Iranian religion, directly derived from the Indo-Iranian tradition. Its followers, called Yazidis, are a Kurdish-speaking community.
Yazidis in Armenia are Yazidis who live in Armenia, where they form the largest ethnic minority. Yazidis settled in the territory of modern-day Armenia mainly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, fleeing religious persecution by the Ottoman Empire. While Yazidis were counted as Kurds in censuses for much of the Soviet period, they are currently recognized as a separate ethnic group in Armenia. According to the 2011 census, around 35,000 Yazidis live in Armenia.
The Kurds in Armenia, also referred to as the Kurds of Rewan, form a major part of the historically significant Kurdish population in the post-Soviet space, and live mainly in the western parts of Armenia.
Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis, are a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in the Middle East today live in Iraq, primarily in the governorates of Nineveh and Duhok.
The Sinjar Mountains, are a 100-kilometre-long (62 mi) mountain range that runs east to west, rising above the surrounding alluvial steppe plains in northwestern Iraq to an elevation of 1,463 meters (4,800 ft). The highest segment of these mountains, about 75 km (47 mi) long, lies in the Nineveh Governorate. The western and lower segment of these mountains lies in Syria and is about 25 km (16 mi) long. The city of Sinjar is just south of the range. These mountains are regarded as sacred by the Yazidis.
The Sinjar District or the Shingal District is a district of the Nineveh Governorate. The district seat is the town of Sinjar. The district has two subdistricts, al-Shemal and al-Qayrawan. The district is one of two major population centers for Yazidis, the other being Shekhan District.
Mira Meyan Khatun or Mayan Khatun — Yazidi princess, a regent of Yezidi Emirate of Sheikhan in 1913-1957.
The Kurds in Georgia form a major part of the historically significant Kurdish population in the post-Soviet space, and are members of the eponymous ethnic group that are citizens of Georgia. In the 20th century, most Kurds fled religious persecution in the Ottoman Empire to the Russian Empire. The return of their Kurdish surnames needs effort according to a Kurdish activist in Georgia. The Kurds also have their own schools, school books and a printing press in Georgia. Illiteracy among them disappeared in the early 1900s. Kurds in Georgia are politically neutral; however, in 1999 they staged a huge demonstration in Tbilisi, demanding the release of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Abdullah Öcalan. Kurds in Georgia today use Cyrillic script. Earlier, in the 1920s, they used the Latin script.
Yazidism in Turkey refers to adherents of Yazidism from Turkey, who remained in Turkey after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The Yazidis living in Turkey during and after the second half of the 20th century gradually left for European countries. In the 1980s, there were 60,000 Yazidis situated in Beşiri, Kurtalan, Bismil, Midyat, Idil, Cizre, Nusaybin, Viranşehir, Suruç and Bozova. Today, these places are almost empty due to exodus to Europe which was provoked by political, religious and economic difficulties. Today only small number remain in villages around Midyat, Viranşehir, Çınar and Beşiri. According to the census of 2000, only 423 individuals adhering to Yazidism remained in the country.
Yazidism in Georgia refers to adherents of Yazidism among Kurds in Georgia. Yazidis of Georgia fled from the Ottoman Empire due to persecution in the 19th and early 20th centuries and sought refuge in Georgia.
The November Sinjar offensive was a combination of operations of Kurdish Peshmerga, PKK, and Yezidi Kurd militias in November 2015, to recapture the city of Sinjar from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Kurdish forces, who expelled the ISIL militants from Sinjar and regained control of Highway 47, which until then had served as the major supply route between the ISIL strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul.
The Êzîdxan Women's Units is a Yazidi all-women militia formed in Iraq in 2015 to protect the Yazidi community in the wake of attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other Islamist groups that view Yazidis as pagan infidels.
The persecution of Yazidis has been ongoing since at least the 12th century. Yazidis are an endogamous and mostly Kurmanji-speaking minority, indigenous to Kurdistan. The Yazidi religion is regarded as "devil-worship" by some Muslims and Islamists. Yazidis have been persecuted by the surrounding Muslims since the medieval ages, most notably by Safavids, 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.
Aziz Amari Tamoyan was a Yazidi politician and the president of the Yezidi National Union in Armenia.
Khdr Hajoyan, is the President of the National Union of Yezidis and the Director of Yezdikhana, the official newspaper of the Yezidi National Union.
Sheikh Mand or Sheikh Mend,Sheikh Mand Pasha was a 13th-century Yazidi saint, ruler of Kilis principality, and an Ayyubid Army commanfiefdom is the son of Şêx Fexredîn and thus belongs to the Şemsanî lineage of sheikhs. His sister was Khatuna Fekhra, revered today as one of the most important Yazidi female saints.
Alphabetical index of articles about the Yazidis, and their history and culture.
References
- ↑ Helix Consulting LLC. "Yezidis are Not Kurds, But Kurds are Yezidis: Aziz Tamoyan". Tert.am. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
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