Remembrance
The Yazidis were persecuted several times in the 20th century, then suffered a genocide in 2014. Here are the established facts, with their sources.
Key dates
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Persecution at the end of the Ottoman Empire
During the genocide of the Armenians and of the Syriac Christians (Sayfo), the Yazidis were targeted in turn as a non-Muslim minority. Villages in Tur Abdin, the Mardin region and Sinjar were destroyed. Some of the survivors found refuge in the Caucasus, in Armenia and Georgia.
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Soviet deportations and repression
Under Stalin, some Transcaucasian Yazidis, classed as Kurds, were caught up in the deportations from border areas to Central Asia and in the repression of the Great Terror.
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The Sinjar genocide
The Islamic State group (ISIS) attacked the Yazidi villages of the Mount Sinjar area in Iraq. Thousands of people were killed; thousands of women and children were abducted and enslaved. On 15 August, in Kocho, the men were executed and the women and children abducted.
The Sinjar genocide
The crimes committed against the Yazidis have been recognised as genocide by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, in its report “They came to destroy” of 15 June 2016, and by the European Parliament, in its resolution of 4 February 2016.
| Figure | Estimate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| People killed or dead in August 2014 | about 3,100 | V. Cetorelli et al., PLOS Medicine, 2017 |
| People abducted | about 6,800 | same study |
In 2018, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nadia Murad, a Yazidi survivor from Kocho, jointly with Denis Mukwege, for their action against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
3 August is the day of remembrance of the genocide.
The community worldwide
The figures below are orders of magnitude. They come from censuses where these exist, and otherwise from academic research.
| Country | Estimated population | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Iraq | 400,000–500,000 | A large share still displaced since 2014 |
| Germany | 200,000–250,000 | Largest community in Europe |
| Russia | about 40,000 | 2010 census |
| Armenia | 31,000–35,000 | 35,308 in the 2011 census; the country’s largest minority |
| France | 10,000–12,000 | Mostly families from Armenia, Georgia and Russia |
| Georgia | 8,000–12,000 | Mostly in Tbilisi |
| Ukraine | 2,000–5,000 | Pre-2022 estimate |
Family testimonies
The association hopes to collect, with the families who wish to take part, the stories of their loved ones: their journeys, exile, the missing.
Nothing has been published so far. No name will be made public without the family’s written consent, and every family will be able to withdraw a name at any time. This collection will begin only once the data protection framework that such information requires is in place.
If you would like to be told when it starts, write to contact@uniondesyezidisdefrance.fr. Please do not send any documents yet.
Sources
- UN Human Rights Council, Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, “They came to destroy”: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis, A/HRC/32/CRP.2, 15 June 2016.
- European Parliament, resolution of 4 February 2016 on the systematic mass murder of religious minorities by ISIS/Daesh, 2016/2529(RSP).
- V. Cetorelli, I. Sasson, N. Shabila, G. Burnham, “Mortality and kidnapping estimates for the Yazidi population in the area of Mount Sinjar, Iraq, in August 2014: A retrospective household survey”, PLOS Medicine, 2017.
- Norwegian Nobel Committee, Nobel Peace Prize 2018.
- “Selective humanitarianism in asylum policies: Yezidi refugees in Germany and France”, Nationalities Papers, Cambridge University Press.
- National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia, 2011 census.
Spotted a mistake or have something to add? Write to us: contact@uniondesyezidisdefrance.fr.