Yazidis in Germany may refer to people born in or residing in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Yazidi Yazidis or Yezidis (; ku, ئێزیدی, translit=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. The majo ...

origin, an

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

group who are strictly

endogamous Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Endogamy is common in many cultu ...

. There is a large Yazidi community in Germany, estimated to be numbering around 60,000 - 120,000 people. This makes the German Yazidi community one of the largest in the Yazidi diaspora.

Immigration history

Many Yazidis fled to Germany during the 1990s fearing religious persecution in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The Yazidi population of Germany was around 20,000 in 1998. Many Yazidi intellectuals also fled during this time and now play a prominent role in Yazidi diaspora affairs and maintain connections with Yazidis in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Political activism

In August 2014, German Yazidis held protests against the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

and called for an immediate end of the

Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL A genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State was carried out in the Sinjar area of northern Iraq in the mid-2010s. The genocide led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of the Yazidis. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were forced i ...

. Between 5,000 and 10,000 people attended the demonstrations. Three commanders of the Yazidi militias who fought against the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(ISIL) in

have lived for various years in Germany.

Yazidis in Germany

Ali Atalan Ali Atalan (born 5 January 1968 in Midyat) is a Kurdish-German politician of Yazidi faith. He is a former member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia with Die Linke in Germany, and the Turkish Parliament with the Peoples' Democratic Party (H ...

– politician *

Eskerê Boyîk Eskerê Boyîk (born 1941) is a Yazidi Kurdish poet and writer. He was born into a Yazidi family at the village of Qundexsaz in Armenia. He went to school in his village and later in the village of Elegez. He continued his studies in economics in Y ...

– writer *

Khalil Rashow Khalil Rashow or Xelîl Cindî Reşo (born 1952) is a contemporary Kurdish academic, writer and researcher. He was born in the village of '' Mam Rasha'' in district of ''Sheikhan'' in Mosul province in northern Iraq. From 1970 to 1974 he studied a ...

– academic *

Feleknas Uca Feleknas Uca (born 17 September 1976) is a Turkish politician of Kurdish descent. From 1999 to 2009, she was member of the European Parliament from Germany, serving with Die Linke. Feleknas Uca was at one time the world's only Yazidi parliament ...

– politician *

Nadia Murad Nadia Murad Basee Taha (; ar, نادية مراد باسي طه; born 10 March 1993) is an Iraqi Yazidis, Yazidi Human rights activists, human rights activist who lives in Germany. In 2014, she was kidnapped from her hometown Kocho, Iraq, Koch ...

– human rights activist and

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

laureate *

Khanna Omarkhali Khanna Omarkhali, also ''Khanna Usoyan'' (; russian: Ханна Рзаевна Омархали, also ; born 15 March 1981, Armenian SSR) is a Yezidi-Kurdish religion researcher. Biography She studied Iranian philology at the Saint Petersburg S ...

- academicKhanna Omarkhali, Göttingen University
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References

External links

BBC News – Iraq crisis German Yazidi community stage demonstration
YouTube {{Immigration to Germany Religion in Germany Yazidi diaspora Middle Eastern diaspora in Germany Ethnic groups in Germany

Immigration history

Political activism

Yazidis in Germany

See also

References

Further reading

External links