Yazidism in Turkey refers to adherents ofYazidism fromTurkey, who remained in Turkey after thedissolution 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 inBeşiri,Kurtalan,Bismil,Midyat,Idil,Cizre,Nusaybin,Viranşehir,Suruç andBozova. 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.[1]
According to theSociety for Threatened Peoples, 300,000 Yazidis originally lived in Turkey.[2][when?]
In the 1980s, the number of Yazidis in Turkey was around 60,000.[3][4] In 1993, the number was estimated to be 24,309.[5]
In 2003, theUnited States Department of State'sBureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor stated that 5,000 Yazidis live in Turkey.[6]
In 2004, theFederal Office for Migration and Refugees reported that more than 2,000 Yazidis (mainly in south-eastern Anatolia) live in Turkey.[7]
In 2019, the number of Yazidis in Turkey was less than 1,000 according to theUnited States federal government estimate.[8]
Historically, the Yazidis lived in Turkey in the east, south, and south-east of Turkey.[4] The current settlement area of Yazidis in Turkey includesMidyat andNusaybin counties inMardin province,Batman andBeşiri counties inBatman province and parts ofİdil counties inŞırnak province. Other Yazidi settlement areas are inSur,Bismil andÇınar counties inDiyarbakır province and inViranşehir district inŞanlıurfa province.
Yazidis are native to an area of the Middle East historically known asMesopotamia (more specifically, they areindigenous to the northern part of Mesopotamia) which also includes southeastern Turkey.[9]
The modern state of Turkey was founded in 1923. Yazidis lived on the territory of present-day Turkey before the establishment of the modern state of Turkey. Yazidi tribes lived in the Ottoman provinces of Mosul, Diyarbekir, Van, Bitlis and Aleppo after SultanSelim conquered eastern Anatolia, Mosul and Syria between 1514 and 1516.[10]
In 1844, the Yazidis in Turkey, who were in theTur Abdin region, were massacred by the Kurdish princeBedirkhan Beg and his troops.[11]
Recently, some Yazidis who are from Turkey and have lived inGermany have returned to their villages in Turkey.[12]
In the 19th century and in the early 20th century, the Yazidis in began to flee theVan,Kars andDogubayazit regions of eastern Turkey during two main waves of migrations, the first wave taking place during the Russo-Ottoman wars of 19th century (1828-1829 and1879-1882) and the second wave taking place duringWorld War 1, especially during and after theArmenian genocide where Yazidis were also targeted alongside Armenians. Before migrating, Yazidis formed an integral part of Kurdish tribal interactions during theOttoman Empire. The Yazidis of Armenia who arrived during the first wave of migrations, settled inAparan andTalin provinces in the mountainous regions ofAragatz, whereas the Yazidis who arrived during the second wave settled in villages acrossAshtarak,Echmiadzin andArmavir.[13] Main causes of these migrations was war and religious persecution at the hands ofOttoman Turks and theMuslim Kurds who were trying to forcibly convert them to Islam.[14][15][16]
Yazidis were massacred alongsideArmenians,Assyrians andPontic Greeks during theArmenian genocide in 1915 and 1916, which then led to many Yazidis fleeing.[14][17][18][19] Turkey denies the genocide.[20] During the genocide there was the slogan "Those who kill 7 Armenians will go to Heaven" and also the version "Those who kill 7 Yazidis will go to Heaven" were used.[17] According toAziz Tamoyan, over 300,000 Yazidis were killed with the Armenians, while others fled toTranscaucasia.[21]
Due topersecution,oppression anddiscrimination, Yazidis fled Turkey in two major immigration waves, the first wave began in the 1960s; many Yazidis were among theguest workers from Turkey. Some settled inCelle, where theTelefunken company started producing color televisions in a new factory here in 1966. The second wave took place after the1980 Turkish military coup. When Yazidis, like many of their fellowKurds, suffered under the dictatorship of GeneralKenan Evren. Yazidis were recognized as a persecuted group for the first time by the administrative court ofStade and after the next few years,North-Rhine Westphalia followed suit as a federal state.[22] After fleeing, theFederal Constitutional Court also declared the Yazidis to be a persecuted group.[23]
According to the GermanBundestag, the majority of Yazidis have left Turkey in the last 30 years.[24]
In 1989,Gernot Wießner andHerbert Schnoor traveled to Turkey with a delegation to see for themselves thepersecution of the Yazidis. They campaigned inNorth Rhine-Westphalia for the right to stay for the Yazidis, whereupon the Yazidis were recognized as a persecuted group in Germany.[25]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)