PDF IRAQ - US Commission on International Religious Freedom These groups, however, are for the most part ethnically and linguistically homogenous, and—as is common throughout the region—both value family relations strongly. What a religion is and what Islam means is a much larger debate, which unfortunately cannot be covered . Their holy book is written in Turkomen, they drink wine and practice confession like Christians, and they make pilgrimages to Yazidi holy sites as well as Muslim ones. The Yezidi believe God created Melek Tawus, who was the first of seven archangels that he made before Adam. Iraq should be considered one of the countries with religious and ethnic pluralism. Michael Izady's map of religion in Iraq shows a sizable area of this faith just to the south and east of Kirkuk. The Yazidi—Religion, Culture and Trauma But they, too, are hated by Muslims, who consider them "infidels" and "devil worshippers." Violent . Islamic State militants appear to have destroyed Christian and Shia Muslim shrines in northern Iraq - including a fourth-century memorial built by an Assyrian king - in the group's latest . More than 2,500 years later, in Ottoman-ruled Baghdad, Jews made up 40 percent . BASHIQA, Iraq (Reuters) The bells have rung out after two years of silence in the Mar Korkeis church in the town of Bashiqa, some 15 km (10 miles) north of Mosul, Islamic State's last major city . Report from Iraq: religion lends Yazidis a profound resilience in the face of persecution. Iraqis from the Yazidi religious sect were driven from their homes in the northern town of Sinjar by the radical Islamic State. Heritage Of Iraq's Last Few Jews At Risk | Barron's Many of the displaced are too fearful to return to their ancestral lands for fear of religious persecution. The population of Christians in Iraq has . Report from Iraq: religion lends Yazidis a profound ... Iraq Religions. Iran said it carried out a missile strike in northern Iraq and suspended talks on restoring diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, days after international negotiations on the Iranian nuclear deal . Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf and its territory encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. The Turkmen are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq after the Arabs and Kurds. Yazidis, a heterodox Kurdish religious minority living predominantly in northern Iraq, Syria and south-east Turkey, with well-established communities in the Caucasus and a growing European diaspora. Religion in Iraq is not simply a Sunday get-out-of-the-house social activity. Islamic State shifts tactics in northern Iraq. They have been deeply involved in advocating for the rights of religious minorities, particularly Christians, in northern Iraq in the face of regional instability and the ISIS occupation. Interactive Map of Iraq from the Encyclopaedia of the Orient. religious traditions of the Yazidi and other minorities may disappear forever. ProPublica aside, Iraq's northern plains are a key ... In the 1980's, during the Iran-Iraq war, it was widely reported that the Government expelled and denied visas to thousands of foreign scholars wishing to study at Najaf. Islam in Kurdistan: Religious Communities and Their ... Muslims, Islam, and Iraq World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Iraq The majority of Yazidis remaining in the Middle East today live in Iraq, primarily in the governorates of Nineveh and Duhok. According to Shi'a sources, religious scholars and Shi'a merchants who supported the schools financially were prime targets for deportation. As Isis assaulted the Yazidi stronghold of Sinjar in northern Iraq last August, peshmerga forces withdrew, leaving the population in the hands of the jihadis. Iraq - Arabs | Britannica Iraq's Widening War Imperils A Religious Minority. The Yezidi are a Kurdish-speaking people that mostly live in northern Iraq. As Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists continue to overrun areas of northern Iraq, the United Nations has begun coordinating humanitarian assistance for displaced vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities, while Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on the international community to support Iraq and help the Government alleviate the suffering of all those impacted by the . It looks at the issue of canonisation, - This article analyses how emerging literacy among the Kurdish-speaking Yezidis of northern Iraq is affecting their religious oral tradition. IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — In a classroom in northern Iraq, Zhiwei Hu presides over his students as a conductor would an orchestra. They are an endangered species. Iran claims missile barrage near US consulate in Iraq. Zoroastrianism has become the fastest growing religion with Kurds, especially in Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq. 02/09/2022 Kazakhstan (International Christian Concern) - Last year, Kazakhstan courts filed 127 administrative prosecutions against people and organizations acting out their religious freedom.Most of the prosecutions targeted individuals, with one individual being charged twice. Your story matters Citation Zaleski, John. KAICIID calls for dialogue among religious leaders Wikimedia Commons/Skitch There are only perhaps 200,000 to 300,000 Yazidis worldwide, according to the Encyclopædia Iranica, a . Today there are few or no Jews left in many Arab countries, most having emigrated to Israel. According to the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Yezidi Rescue Coordinating Office, 2,874 Yezidis remained missing following ISIS's assault on northern Iraq in 2014. With them gone, the articles are fewer. Yezidi. He cues with a question, and the response from his students resounds in perfect, fluent Chinese. The adjective is derived from a noun that names a people and their languages living in Eastern Anatolia, Northeastern Syria, Northern Iraq, and Northwestern Iran. There are probably some 200,000-300,000 Yazidis worldwide. "They became a closed community," explains Khanna Omarkhali, of the University of Göettingen. Roza . As Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists continue to overrun areas of northern Iraq, the United Nations has begun coordinating humanitarian assistance for displaced vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities, while Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on the international community to support Iraq and help the Government alleviate the suffering of all those impacted by the . Map of Iraq - The Middle East - Information The Middle East - Information It does not, however, include the city of Daquq in the Kakai/Yarsan/Ahl-e Haqq area. Photograph . When Adam was made, God told the archangels to bow to him, but Melek Tawus refused. The noun refers to a religion. Post-ISIS Rehabilitation of Religious Minorities to Northern Iraq Sources in Iraq told USCIRF in 2019 that only an estimated 30-50 per - cent of the population of Chaldeans, Assyrians, and other Christians have likely returned to their communities of origin since the fall of ISIS in late 2017, mostly from refuge in Erbil and other parts of KRG On behalf of KAICIID, filmmakersThomas Busch and Sabine Kueper and photographer Saner Sen visited various parts of Northern Iraq and Turkey in October 2014; the images and video they sent back illustrate the human impact of the crisis currently ongoing in Iraq and Syria due to the manipulation of religion to justify violence. Turkmens include a wide range of Shiites, leftists and Sunnis. note: while there has been voluntary relocation of many Christian families to northern Iraq, the overall Christian population has decreased at least 50% and . Their number worldwide is estimated to be in the region of 800,000 to 1,000,000 (Cetorelli et al., 2017). The United States remains committed to supporting persecuted religious and ethnic minorities in Northern Iraq. Central Kurdish, also called Sorani, is spoken in Iraq as well. Map of Ethnic and Religious Groups of Iraq from the University of Texas archive. The "Arab Spring" led to Islamisation and suppressed other religions such as the Copts in Egypt and the Yazidis, especially in northern Iraq and northern Syria. We wish to deepen the understanding of religious diversity among German and Iraqi students and scholars through a collaboration with three Iraqi universities in Erbil - Ishik University, Catholic University, and . Sunnis (ahl as-sunna / أهل السنة): Sunnis form a majority of Muslims in most . With these new awards, the total assistance the U.S. Government has provided since 2017 in Northern Iraq is now more than $400 million. Regional Languages of Iraq . The indigenous Assyrian homeland areas are "part of today's northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria". Is Iraq Assyria? Religious Culture of Late Antiquity: A Study of Asceticism in Iraq and Northern Mesopotamia The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Anecdotal evidence of the existence of Yazidi groups in North-Western Persia has not yet been proven. Making sense of Iraq, ISIS, Yazidis, beheadings, crucifixions and your social media feed. Christianity is the second largest religion in Iraq after Islam, which includes: Chaldean, Assyrian, Syriac Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant, and Armenian Christians. A real mixing pot of a religion, the Shabak are a people who live in Northern Iraq and whose beliefs and society have been inspired by the faiths and cultures that surround them. The Kurdish flag waving in the wind above the Quru Gusik refugee camp, 20 kilometers east of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Yet, the Iraq-Iran conflict of the 1980s was not fundamentally religious, although the sectarian divisions were certainly exploited by both sides. Show simple item record. Iraq's Yazidis maintain an oral tradition that tallies the . Hundreds were killed and thousands . The U.S. Agency for International Development has now provided more than $389 million in support of the Genocide Recovery and Persecution Response initiative to help persecuted ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq heal and restore their communities. Updated: March 13, 2022 - 9:45am. Young people in northern Iraq are so disillusioned that many are trying to leave the country any way they can. The Wikipedia article on the town, however, claims that, "The majority of the 50,000 inhabitants are Kurds from the Kakai faith." Middle East Will Iraqi Kurdistan's youth turn to religious extremism next? February 13, 2022 2:49 AM. The preeminent deity among the Yezidi is Melek Tawus, the Peacock Angel. Yazidis or Yezidis (/ j ə ˈ z iː d iː z / (); Kurdish: ئێزیدی, romanized: Êzidî) are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. By late 2014, ISIS was in control of roughly one third of Iraqi territory. BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran has claimed responsibility for a missile barrage that struck early Sunday near a sprawling U.S. consulate complex in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, saying it was retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard. In today's Republic of Iraq, where Islam is the state religion and claims the beliefs of 95 percent of the population, the majority of Iraqis identify with Arab culture. They're on their way out. Article. The Sinjar section of the Nineveh Province in northern Iraq. We are painfully aware of the suffering of so many people in Iraq, and in Syria, simply because their beliefs differ from those of these . The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report on May 2 that listed 11 "countries of particular concern" - countries whose governments have allowed or participated in violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. The city of Babylon, whose ruins are located in present-day Iraq, was founded more than 4,000 years ago as a small port town on the Euphrates River. During the unhappy reign of ISUS in that area, there was a lot of reporting coming out of the region. DOHUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Carefully tucking his Farvahar pendant under his shirt, Aram Mehdi reminds himself of the core . Representatives of minority religious communities said that despite occasional harassment from local authorities, the central government generally did not interfere with . June to September: Militants seize Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, and other key areas. Map of Kurdish Areas of Northern Iraq from the University of Texas archive (link fixed 25 December 2005). Religion, Committee on the Study of. Estimates put the global number of Yazidis at around 700,000 people, with the vast majority of them concentrated in northern Iraq, in and around Sinjar. Their rich oral tradition is their primary way of passing on their beliefs, which makes it complicated for scholars and . 2014 — Insurgents attack. Religions: Muslim (official) 95-98% (Shia 64-69%, Sunni 29-34%), Christian 1% (includes Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Assyrian Church of the East), other 1-4% (2015 est.) Sadly, the problems are not. On July 18, speaking at the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom held in Washington, DC, the Vice President announced the U.S. government had provided $340 million for assistance in northern Iraq, focusing on helping minority religious communities previously targeted by ISIS. President Obama . After all, it's already published two lengthy pieces on the deteriorating situation for Christians and other minority religions in northern Iraq. The 52-year-old has been teaching the cohort of 14 Iraqi Kurdish students at the behest of the Chinese consulate in the . Christianity, Islam, and the Religious Culture of Late Antiquity: A Study of Asceticism in Iraq and Northern Mesopotamia The "Arab Spring" led to Islamisation and suppressed other religions such as the Copts in Egypt and the Yazidis, especially in northern Iraq and northern Syria. Please share how this access benefits you. Assyrian Christians — often simply referred to as Assyrians — are an ethnic minority group whose origins lie in the Assyrian Empire, a major power in the ancient Middle East. Most of the world's 2-4 million Assyrians live around their traditional homeland, which comprises parts of northern Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. Because of the religion's strong ties to Kurdish culture, there has been a recent rebirth of Zoroastrianism in the region, and as of August 2015 the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officially recognized Zoroastrianism as a . The next largest numbers of Assyrian Christians live in Syria (700,000), the United States (400,000), Sweden (120,000) and Lebanon (100,000). Although the commission did not list Iraq as one of the 11 countries, it said it "remains seriously concerned about religious . Nineveh's Assyrian Christians report that Sunnis from throughout Iraq - including some from Kurdistan — have joined the some 10,000 jihadists to fight under the black banner of . These women found . If Iran had been the one to begin the war then we might think differently, but as it was, the conflict ensued from Saddam's quest for territory and power. The Yazidi live predominantly in present day northern Iraq. Baghdad's Meir Tweig Synagogue was built in 1942 when Iraq's Jewish population numbered around 150,000. The genocide and war crimes committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) against religious and ethnic minorities in northern Iraq has made getting assistance to these groups a focus of significant attention by multiple administrations, members of Congress, and religious minority constituencies. Northern Iraq is home to a few hundred thousand adherents of the ancient, oriental religion. The region around Mt Sinjar. Iraq's Arab population is divided between Sunni Muslims and the more numerous Shiʿi Muslims. The Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, is continuing its two-month-old rampage across northern Iraq's large, multi-cultural Nineveh province, intensifying religious cleansing and further consolidating its power. During the unhappy reign of ISUS in that area, there was a lot of reporting coming out of the region. The Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, is continuing its two-month-old rampage across northern Iraq's large, multi-cultural Nineveh province, intensifying religious cleansing and further consolidating its power.Nineveh's Assyrian Christians report that Sunnis from throughout Iraq - including some from . Islam calls for prayer five times a day, the faithful called to mosque by a broadcast call to prayer. This stark reality is one that 250,000 civilians in squalid IDP camps across northern Iraq must face daily. 2019. note: while there has been voluntary relocation of many Christian families to northern Iraq, the overall Christian population has decreased at least 50% and . Two regional languages are recognized in Iraq. National Geographic Map of Iraq with the surrounding countries of the Middle East clearly visible. "764225AI 7-03." "Background image composed of Landsat TM (bands 1, 2, 3), and DTED level 1." Includes text, comparative area map, location map, and historical timeline. However, here it refers to only Iraqi Kurdistan. Over July and August the group swept across northern Iraq, committing atrocities against ethnic and religious minorities and prompting international intervention in the conflict, primarily through airstrikes. Iraq's non-Muslim minorities are "the victims of the last regime change in Iraq and victims of the failure of the political system since 2003," when the U.S. invaded, he said. Transformations in minority religious leadership: The Yezidis, Shabak, and Assyrians in Northern Iraq Michiel Leezenberg University of Amsterdam Abstract This paper discusses three religious communities in Northern Iraq that are characterized by the shared fate of having been targeted by the 2014 offensive by warriors of the so-called 'Islamic State' (IS). Christianity, including Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Assyrian Church of the East, accounted for 1% and other religions made up the remaining 1-4%. Published: October 8, 2015 2.00am EDT. The second-largest cultural group is the Kurds, who are in the highlands and mountain valleys of the north in a politically autonomous settlement. Sunni armed group controlling Mosul tries to evade US air strikes and Kurdish forces by turning to smaller units. Kurdistan Region (KRI; Kurdish: ھەرێمی کوردستان, romanized: Herêma Kurdistanê, Arabic: إقليم كردستان) is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Dohuk, Erbil, Halabja, and Sulaymaniyah and bordering Iran, Syria, and Turkey.The Kurdistan Region encompasses most of Iraqi Kurdistan but excludes the disputed territories of . This assistance combines short, medium, and long-term efforts that will help meet the immediate, life saving and Many Arabs, in fact, identify more strongly with their family or tribe (an extended, patrilineal group) than with national or . Also called Yezidi, Daasin, or Ezidi, the Yazidi are a Kurdish-speaking ethnoreligious community based in Northern Iraq who practice a syncretic religion influenced by pre-Islamic Assyrian traditions, Sufi and Shiite Islam, Nestorian Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. Sabah ARAR. With them gone, the articles are fewer. Religious Oral Tradition and Literacy among the Yezidis of Iraq H anthropos I jJ 103.2008: 393-403 Eszter Spät Abstract. The headlines are currently filled with reports and claims of widespread persecution of religious minorities at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, also known as ISIL) rebels in Iraq and Syria. DAAD Project: Religious Diversity in Northern Iraq Welcome to the website for the "Religious Diversity Erbil" DAAD project. A U.S. defense official told The Associated Press there were no American casualties from . Ethnic-religious groups' relations. After all, it's already published two lengthy pieces on the deteriorating situation for Christians and other minority religions in northern Iraq. In conclusion, ISIL's systematic persecution of religious minorities in northern Iraq, and their brutal and oppressive ideology in general, is of utmost concern to the Department and to the Administration. USIP congratulates our longtime partners, Pascale and William Warda, for being awarded the State Department's inaugural International Religious Freedom Award. Adrift After Enslavement, Yazidi Teen Says She Can't Go Home. THE HOPES AND FEARS OF RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN NORTHERN IRAQ UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. Along with the 111 individual prosecutions, two schools, two charities, and one company were punished for various . A dozen missiles fired from Iran struck the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on Sunday, landing near the U.S. consulate and complicating efforts by the Biden administration to reach a nuclear deal with Tehran. However, Iraq has suffered from decades of conflict with other nations and internal conflict among different ethnic and religious groups. Northern Kurdish is recognized as the largest variant, and it is mainly used in the north of Iraq. They Ancillary maps: Oil infrastructure -- Distribution of ethnoreligious groups and major tribes -- Population density -- Land use -- Kurdish areas of northern Iraq -- Physical . ISIS Is on the Verge of Expelling Northern Iraq's Religious Minorities. Roza Barakat poses for a portrait in a safe house in Hassakeh, Syria, Feb. 6, 2022. Zoroastrians make a comeback in northern Iraq, but still face stigma. Associated Press. Dig In. Christianity, Islam, and the Religious Culture of Late Antiquity: A Study of Asceticism in Iraq and . Sunnis (ahl as-sunna / أهل السنة): Sunnis form a majority of Muslims in most . After 2003, and due to the emergence of insecurity, kidnappings, attacks . A middle east resource site and wall map, including information on religion, economics, oil, water, maps, 25 country profiles and more. Iraq's Yazidis rarely intermarry with other Kurds, and they do not accept religious converts. Southern Kurdish is widely used in the Khanaqin district situated in the eastern region of the country. Because what's happening in northern Iraq right now is the religious minorities are leaving. Religion in Iraq was overwhelmingly Muslim as of 2015, with over 95-98% of the population practicing Islam. According to AINA, there are 1.5 million Assyrians in northern Iraq, living in or being displaced from the area they consider their traditional homeland, old Assyria. Religions: Muslim (official) 95-98% (Shia 64-69%, Sunni 29-34%), Christian 1% (includes Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Assyrian Church of the East), other 1-4% (2015 est.) The Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, is continuing its two-month-old rampage across northern Iraq's large, multi-cultural Nineveh province, intensifying religious cleansing and further . Nina Shea. Sadly, the problems are not. Iraq Religions. Today there are few or no Jews left in many Arab countries, most having emigrated to Israel. 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