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The Yazidis are a Kurdish religious minority that predominantly resides in Northern Iraq, and the roots of their religious persecution can be traced back to this very location. Lālish is home to the holiest Yazidi temple, which contains the tomb of Sheikh ʿAdī–the founder of and most important saint in the religion. Yazidis are expected to make a pilgrimage to the Lālish temple at least once in their lives.

The Yazidis’ religious beliefs are often misunderstood. They worship the fallen angel Tawûsî Melek, which means “Peacock Angel” in English. The devil is depicted as a fallen angel in both Christianity and Islam, but unlike Satan, Tawûsî Melek was redeemed and welcomed back into heaven by God. Despite this, Yazidis are often referred to as “devil worshippers” by ill-informed outsiders.

Yazidism began in the Kurdish mountains of Northern Iraq, where descendants of the fallen Islamic Umayyad dynasty remained. One of these descendants was Sheikh ʿAdī ibn Musāfir. He settled in Lālish and established a Sufi order called the ‘Adqiyyah in the 12th century. His teachings merged with local traditions, leading to the birth of Yazidism. The religion draws inspiration from Islam, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity.

Over time, the Yazidis’ power and influence expanded, and their beliefs deviated further from Islam. As a result, Muslim rulers viewed the Yazidis as enemies and apostates. In the early 15th century, Muslim leaders began to issue attacks on the Yazidis, marking the beginning of their centuries-long history of religious persecution. Under Ottoman rule during the 18th and 19th centuries, there were 72 Yazidi massacres. Today, the Yazidis face religious persecution at the hands of the Islamic State.

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While ISIS originated from al-Qaeda, an organization in Iraq, we chose Zarqa, Jordan, to represent the birthplace of ISIS because it is the hometown of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – ISIS’ founder. However, to say al-Zarqawi is responsible for the formation of ISIS glosses over the nuances of Iraq’s geopolitics. ISIS was a direct consequence of the turbulent political climate of Iraq in the 2000s, especially the American invasion of Iraq; ISIS formed just a year after the American invasion in 2004. This is exemplified by al-Zarqawi’s right-hand man, Abu Ali al-Anbari, who, unlike Zarqawi, was a native Iraqi. Anbari was raised to be extremely devout, and, like many of the Iraqis who would later join ISIS, he served in the Iraqi military for several years. Following the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein created the Islamic Faith Campaign, a major platform for anti-American rhetoric. This rhetoric fomented Anbari’s extremist views. al-Zarqawi, on the other hand, did not become an extremist until later on. It can thus be inferred that the political and religious environment strongly influenced Zarqawi, and, by extension, the creation of ISIS.

The emergence of extremist philosophies in the Middle East can be traced back to Western interference. For much of the 20th century, many Muslims maintained the long-held belief that Islam could be preserved even in an era of secularism. However, in the wake of World War II, after the West did not honor Arab cries for independence, distrust towards the secularist West brewed. Furthermore, as many Middle Eastern countries began tapping into their oil reserves, making them wealthy and Westernized, tensions flared between the secular and nationalist governments and their Islamist inhabitants. The Iranian Revolution proved to Islamist Iraqis that centering a government around Islam was attainable. All this contributed to the foundation of terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda.

Western intervention’s role in the rise of ISIS did not stop at fumbling decolonization. The American attacks on al-Qaeda threw Iraq into turmoil, ironically allowing them to expand further into Iraq. Dismantling Saddam Hussein’s Baathist government created a gaping power vacuum and a loss of national identity. The dissolution of Hussein’s Iraq led to ethnic turmoil. Additionally, when the Coalition Provisional Authority de-Baathified the government and disbanded the Iraqi army, Iraq’s already-oppressed Sunnis were disproportionately affected. The CPA left thousands unemployed at the hands of the American government, fueling anti-American sentiments while simultaneously generating a large pool of soldiers and administrators looking for jobs. ISIS happily offered them what the government now refused them: a salary.

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In 2014, ISIS invaded Northern Iraq and the region of Sinjar, the homeland of the Yazidis. ISIS galvanized Sinjar’s Arab population, blaming the Yazidis for American intervention in Iraq, and turned the Yazidis’ own neighbors against them. The men were killed. The women and children were sold into slavery. Hundreds of Yazidis were killed by car bombs. In total, the UN estimates that 12,000 were murdered or captured. Thousands more are missing. Most of the population was forced to flee – out of the approximately 550,000 Yazidis who lived in the Sinjar region, 360,000 are now refugees.

While some Yazidis sought asylum in other nations – 70,000 have left Iraq – the majority of Yazidis remained in their home country, diffusing into IDP camps across northern Iraq. As of 2014, of the 300,000 Yazidis who lived in the city of Sinjar, 130,000 fled to Dohuk or Erbil, Kurdish regions in Northern Iraq. 45,000 Yazidis hid from ISIS on Mount Sinjar – since ISIS is unfamiliar with the terrain there, it is the only place in Sinjar where the Yazidis could take refuge. They were unable to go anywhere else because Iraqi military units blockaded the roads.

Most of the IDP camps have been set up by the Kurdistan Regional Government. One, a tent city housing 100,000 Yazidis, was set up in Zakho, Iraq by Turkey’s disaster agency. To say the camps are grueling is an understatement. In some places, there is no electricity or running water. In the winter, the weather is dank and freezing, and in the summer, temperatures soar to up to 40 degrees Celsius (about 105 degrees Fahrenheit.) The UNHCR considers access to food as critically insufficient. In one shelter in Erbil, 230 refugees are sharing two refrigerators for food. Despite this, help from NGOs borders on nonexistent. On Mount Sinjar, they are unable to leave or trade with neighboring communities, as the surrounding areas are inhabited by ISIS members. The lack of trade means Mount Sinjar is economically stagnant, leaving most Yazidis unemployed.

PTSD and depression also run rampant in refugee camps. When aid first arrived in Dohuk and Erbil, two of the regions that the Yazidis fled to, the refugees were so profoundly traumatized that they refused to eat out of fear of being poisoned. One woman committed suicide after ISIS slaughtered her relatives in front of her. Another refugee, Elias Shingal, witnessed fifty of his neighbors getting buried alive. Yazidi children who survived captivity – about 2,000 have been discovered – were subject to debilitating injuries, mood swings, and flashbacks.

Yazidi women, especially those forcibly married to ISIS fighters, endured the worst. 97% of Yazidi women suffer from PTSD, and 88% suffer from depression. After being sold into slavery, women were often torn from their children. Many of these women have been separated from the children they bore to ISIS members, because the Supreme Yazidi Spiritual Council views them as illegitimate, and Iraqi law dictates that they must be raised as Muslim. Hope for improving their lives has all but disappeared after 8 years in refugee camps. Many, overwhelmed by the despair of their situation, have turned to suicide.

Even though ISIS has since been driven out, 70% of Sinjar’s population is still displaced. The town’s once 300,000-strong population has shrunken to 20,000. Much of this can be attributed to rampant regional instability. Although Yazidis began returning following ISIS’s defeat, repeated Turkish airstrikes, which started in 2020, caused returns to drop precipitously. While 38,000 returned during the latter half of 2020, in 2021, less than 5,000 returned to Sinjar. Furthermore, Sinjar is highly coveted by both Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government. In 2022, an Iraqi attack on the Yazidi militia (called the Sinjar Resistance Unit) drove another 1,000 Yazidi families from their homes. Although the two armies later reached a ceasefire, refugees remain hesitant to return, despite the abysmal living conditions in the IDP camps.

These combined factors have stopped most from repopulating Sinjar. However, some refugees are returning to the Sinjar region out of necessity, because migrating to Europe is too expensive, and living in displacement camps is straining families that have upwards of 25 members. Yet, after the devastation that war has wreaked on the region, there is not much to return to. 70% of Yazidi villages have been destroyed. Employment opportunities are extremely limited, leading some to return to the camps.

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With over 200,000 Yazidis as of January 2023, Germany is home to the largest Yazidi diaspora in the world. Many Yazidis subjected to religious persecution fled to the Caucasus region in the late 19th century and early 20th century, but those who faced further persecution in Turkey eventually landed in Germany by the late 1900s. In addition to the support offered to refugees, this existing Yazidi community makes Germany an attractive destination for those seeking asylum.

Some refugees are able to reach Germany through family reunification programs. Others choose to apply for the EU’s relocation program, which assigns refugees to a host country without allowing them to choose for themselves. This is dividing the Yazidi population and separating communities. Hence, those who do not qualify will often arrive in Germany illegally.

The German state of Baden-Wurttemberg runs a program that offers trauma therapy to Yazidi survivors, which is a major point of interest for these genocide survivors. In March 2015, the program began providing Yazidis housing, financial assistance, physical and psychological treatment, free education, and opportunities to apply for German citizenship. 500 women were selected for the program, but the 30 or so husbands that survived were left behind in Iraq.

Baden-Württemberg State Minister Theresa Schopper said that the men could not be reunited if their families still depended on certain social benefits, and most women in the program were working jobs that could not fully support their families. Many of the husbands that remain in Iraq rely on WhatsApp for updates on their families and are stuck there for the time being.

In Bad Saarow, Germany, one facility that accepts Yazidi refugees is run by the Catholic relief organization, Caritas. It offers services such as psychotherapy, art therapy, and German language lessons. Children and young adults are able to attend nearby schools, while others hold paid jobs and apprenticeships. Yazidis continue to practice their religion in Germany through group prayers and fasting. Those at Caritas are invited to pray at the local Protestant church during major Yazidi holidays and festivals and will occasionally attend the regular masses as well. For some Yazidis, finding a sense of belonging among the German people has been difficult, while others have connected with the locals through clubs and activities and find the community to be welcoming.

In January 2023, Germany officially recognized ISIS’s crimes against the Yazidis as genocide. Despite this, the nation is accepting fewer Yazidi refugees than in the past, which is causing more families to be separated. The protection rate for Yazidis (which defines the percentage of refugees recognized “as being in need of protection”) fell from 91.8% in 2017 to 48.6% in 2022, according to Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). This drop is attributed to the fall of ISIS in Iraq, which has allowed Germany to deny Yazidi refugees asylum under the claim that Iraq is safe to return to.

However, this is far from the case. Sinjar does not provide a safe living environment or adequate public services, like water and electricity. Those who have returned since Sinjar’s liberation in 2015 are endangered by remnants of the conflict, such as landmines and booby traps. Hundreds of thousands of Yazidis remain in IDP camps with futile dreams of one day reaching their families in Germany.

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As Western Europe became increasingly strict with its refugee policies, Yazidis seeking asylum in Europe flocked to Greece. The situation was far from ideal. The boat trip from Turkey to Greece could be life-threatening, but at the time, it was often the only alternative to going back to the ISIS-occupied Sinjar. For some Yazidis, Greece serves as a connection point between Iraq and Germany, where the rest of their families reside. Despite much of Western Europe closing its borders to refugees, many Yazidis believe that Europeans, understanding the persecution they had faced, will sympathize with and welcome them.

Unfortunately, the reality is grim. In recent years, local protests led to Greece shutting dozens of refugee camps, shrinking the number of camps from 121 in 2020 to just 34 as of September 2022. Because of this drastic reduction, nearly 120 Yazidi refugees were recently blocked from entering a refugee camp in Greece. One of these camps, located in Serres, Greece, has already reached its full capacity. Those trying to gain entry are forced to sleep outside.

The locals, however, are the least of the Yazidis’ concerns. In the displacement camps, the Yazidis are plagued by harassment, discrimination, and violence at the hands of Muslim refugees. The harassment is so severe that, in one camp, Yazidis cannot charge their phones or use the bathrooms without risk of being attacked. Their food is sometimes stolen by the Muslims. They live in fear of getting punched or held at knifepoint by other refugees. Even as Yazidis seek haven from religious oppression by moving abroad to countries like Greece, they are still facing violence from their oppressors.

The Petra camp is the only refugee camp in Greece made expressly for Yazidis. Even Petra, however, is fraught with struggles. The canvas tents hardly defend against the scorching heat of the summertime and the frigid temperatures of the winter. They are beleaguered by snakes and scorpions. There are not enough bathrooms and showers. The combination of poor hygienic equipment and high population density makes Petra a breeding ground for disease. Yet, these conditions are still preferable to the harassment they would face in other camps.

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Border crossing Terespol - Brest, Terespol, Poland

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In the past, many Yazidi refugees fled by sea between Turkey and Greece, but more recently, Belarus has provided a safer route for those hoping to reach Germany. In 2021, state-owned travel agencies in Belarus made it easier for Iraqis to obtain tourist visas. This was done with the knowledge that Iraqi refugees such as the Yazidis would be seeking to reach the Polish border. Belarus intended to use this influx of refugees to put pressure on the European Union, which had imposed sanctions on the nation. In response to the flood of Middle Eastern refugees that arrived at the border, Poland deployed 15,000 troops and border guards.

Initially, Yazidis would fly from Baghdad to Minsk, but after Iraq canceled all direct flights to Minsk in August 2021 due to pressure from the EU, refugees began connecting to Minsk through Damascus. Once reaching Minsk, Yazidis travel by land to the Polish border. Getting a tourist visa has since become nearly impossible once again due to the EU’s demands, so smugglers will sometimes forge documentation that states the migrants are businessmen.

Many Yazidi refugees have become stuck at the border, camping out in the nearby woods while they wait in the freezing cold without food or water. An estimated 4,000 were stuck at the Polish border in November 2022. The Belarusian police beat and push refugees towards the Polish border, only for them to be forced back by Polish guards. Many refugees turn to smugglers to help them cross the border, but smugglers are in high demand, despite being unreliable, expensive, and open about the dangers asylum seekers will face. Some resort to cutting through or digging under the border fence, but families may be separated by border police sending people back. Others eventually return to IDP camps in Iraq.

The few who successfully reach the other side of the border take taxis to the Polish-German border. Finally, refugees will often take another taxi to their final destination within Germany.