The Yazidis And The Revolution Of September 11, 1961-March 11, 1970

Abstract

The Yezidi religion is one of the ancient religions of the Kurdish people, and it is one of the most controversial ancient religions in the world. Kurdistan is the original home of the Yezidis, where their holy temple is located, Lalish, and they are distributed in different regions of Kurdistan.

The Kurds and other ethnic and religious components have gained in Iraq since its establishment. Of the difficulties and woes and the demographic change of their regions as a result of the policies of successive Iraqi governments, and the many obstacles in order to obtain their rights, and the result was for the Kurdish people the revolution of September 11, 1961 led by Mullah Mustafa Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (Parti), in which various groups, segments and components of Kurdistan participated, including the Yazidis who played An influential role compared to their population size in the revolution during the period 1961-1970. They had a role within the (Parti) organizations and participated in the battles against the Iraqi governments. Their areas were a safe haven for the Peshmerga, in addition to providing support to the Peshmerga in terms of weapons, equipment and foodstuffs. As a result of their role, they have been subjected to a lot of harassment and surveillance by the Iraqi authorities.

The importance of the research is that it is an academic attempt on the participation of the Yazidis and their contribution to the September Revolution, many of which took place in the Yazidi regions, and they pushed a lot to continue the struggle against the Iraqi governments in order to obtain the national rights of the Kurdish people in Iraq.

The study relied on a variety of sources, including Iraqi documents, party publications, books in Arabic, Kurdish and English, as well as the Arabic and Kurdish press, and personal interviews with a group of participants in the events of the revolution during the study period.