Murad Ismael, the first Yazidi in Iraq to win a parliamentary seat independently of both Kurdish and Arab factions, has announced that he will push for the formal recognition of Yazidis as a distinct ethnicity in the country.
Addressing a gathering of diaspora Yazidis in Ontario, Canada, on 9 December, Ismael accused Kurdish groups of attempting to subsume Yazidi identity by labeling the community “Yazidi-Kurds.”
“We need a formal recognition of both Yazidi religion and identity,” he said, stressing that Kurdish political actors must respect Yazidis as a separate people.
Ismael’s remarks challenge long-standing efforts by Kurdish parties to assert dominance over the Yazidi-majority region of Sinjar. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Yazidis have faced pressure and intimidation designed to force them to register as Kurds. Human Rights Watch, in its report On Vulnerable Ground, documented these tactics, stating: “To consolidate their grip on Nineveh and to facilitate its incorporation into the KRG, Kurdish authorities have embarked on a two-pronged strategy: they have offered minorities inducements while simultaneously wielding repression in order to keep them in tow. The goal of these tactics is to push Shabak and Yazidi communities to identify as ethnic Kurds, and for Christians to abide by the Kurdish government’s plan of securing a Kurdish victory in any referendum concerning the future of the disputed territories.”
Ismael secured a general seat running on the Yazidi Cause Alliance list. He is the Co-Founder and President of Sinjar Academy, as well as the Co-Founder and former Director of Yazda, an organization dedicated to advocating for Yazidi rights.
