August 2024 marks the Tenth anniversary of the genocide by the terrorist militia “Islamic State”which was attended by hundreds of individuals from Iraq’s marginalized communities, including Yazidis, Christians and Shiiteswere killed in Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, and the encompassing areas.
The Yazidiswho belong to a monotheistic religion wherein the Peacock Angel is an important of seven divine beings, and who’ve been usually persecuted up to now, suffered greatly. From 2014 to 2017 no less than 5,000 were brutally murdered, 6,000 women and kids were enslaved; a whole lot of hundreds were expelled from Sinjar and the Nineveh Plain near Mosul.
The Assyrian Christians in Iraq, who belong to an indigenous Mesopotamian community consisting of early converts to a Syriac type of Eastern Christianity, also suffered under ISIn Mosul, IS marked Christian houses and forced them to either pay the jizyaa tax historically imposed on non-Muslims. Leave or be killed.
Even Muslims, especially Shiites, who’re considered heretics by IS because they adhere to types of Islam that transcend the narrow version of Sunni Islam that the group represents, were killedWhile Shiite Muslims form the bulk in Iraq, they’re within the minority in Mosul and the north, where the bulk are Sunnis.
Iraq is the country where I used to be born. During a visit in the summertime of 2016, I used to be capable of see ISIS men coming out of an old monastery on a mountain near Mosul, which particularly fearful me. Although IS was largely defeated by Iraqi forcesalong with a broader international coalition led by the United States, the implications of the genocidal violence they committed are still being felt.
Yazidis and Christians specifically proceed to suffer marginalisation, the regions wherein they live remain unstable and their heritage is subject to ongoing destruction. Scholar of IraqI’m particularly concerned concerning the Loss of intangible heritage reminiscent of prayers, songs and historical stories – which I’m now working on preserving.
Historical significance
Since the 2003 US-led invasion of IraqThe political parties in power operated on a sectarian basis to marginalize minorities reminiscent of Christians and Yazidis.
The variety of Christians on this area has declined from 1.5 million in 2003 to several hundred thousand today. Other Islamic fundamentalist groups reminiscent of al-Qaeda also targeted Christians before ISIS did so. The Alliance for Iraqi Minorities, a nonprofit organization based in Iraq, reported that From 2003 to 2014, 1,200 Christians were killed.
One reason for his or her suffering is that the region they’ve historically inhabited, particularly the Nineveh Plain, wanted for its resources. It is wealthy in oil It also houses a few of Iraq's most significant cultural monuments from the early pre-Islamic period.
But it also has a special value for the Assyrian Christians in Iraq. Nineveh and the encompassing areas reminiscent of Nimrud and Alqosh have necessary artifacts, monasteries and church complexesdating back to the earliest times of Christianity. These areas were once a part of Mesopotamia, a melting pot of civilization, and contain a wealthy heritage of medieval literaturepreserved in helpful manuscripts These date back to the fifth century.
Also bordering the Nineveh Plain is Lalish, the holiest shrine of the Yazidis. It is home to the twelfth century shrine of Sheikh Adi, who was considered influential holy figure within the Yazidi faith.
These communities draw their cultural identity from this history. For Assyrian Christians, the traditional Mesopotamian heritage, including Christianity, is intertwined with a novel oral heritage that features songs, folk tales, recipes and tools for crafts which have been utilized by villagers for hundreds of years as a part of their current endangered Aramaic language and culture.
The peasant language utilized by these communities retains some influences of the Akkadian language utilized by the traditional Mesopotamian empires. In the dialect of the town of Baghdeda within the Nineveh Plain, for instance, the word for grain storage in Aramaic is “bakhshima,” which is an in depth descendant of ““bet hashiimi” means barn in Akkadian.
Preservation of cultural heritage
Even before the rise of IS, rural and ethno-religious communities that didn’t hold a central position of power were subject to state neglect and inadequate preservation of their heritage. In particular, Arab nationalist governments reminiscent of the Baath Party, which ruled Iraq from 1968 to 2003, destroyed the villages of Assyrian Christians. force their expulsion in large urban centers in Iraq. The Yazidis were similarly targeted.
Throughout the twentieth century, Iraq's national libraries and museums showed little interest in presenting the heritage of provincial and rural communities.
IS brought much more destruction. Churches and shrines, cultural institutions and ancient heritage – including the town of Nimrod – were destroyed by IS. Those charged with preserving the heritage and other community members were expelled from their towns and villages or killed. Some 400,000 Yazidis and about 200,000 Christians were expelled from the region between 2014 and 2017.
In doing so, IS also erased memories of communities that were passed on to future generations. The damage was particularly severe for the Yazidi community, which has no written language. In each communities, many traditions were passed down orally by men and ladies – who were often themselves illiterate – in the numerous languages of the region.
The aim of IS, my colleagues and I discovered, was to wipe out not only these communities themselves, but in addition the types of intercommunal coexistence that had historically shaped northern Iraq. Many of the religious sites that IS targeted were revered by multiple religions. For example, Mosul's Mosque of Nabi Yunis was built on the positioning of a Christian church that was believed to be the sanctuary of the biblical prophet Jonah. According to the Bible, Jonah was commissioned by God to save lots of the Ninevites. The destruction of this site by ISIS revealed an Assyrian palace. under the church converted right into a mosquewhich was dedicated to Jonah.
The way forward
Our current project documents the intangible and textual heritage of each the Yazidis and the Christians. The oral heritage uses ancient languages and dialects – particularly the endangered Neo-Aramaic dialects of the Middle East spoken by Christians. We also document the Kurmanji version of Kurdish spoken by Yazidis.
The memories and stories are usually not only necessary for Yazidis and Christians, but for the pluralistic history of the northern region and Iraq as an entire. One example is “Dazike Batzmie” or the “Blessing of the String” – a sacred white and red woolen string worn by Yazidis as a superb luck charm.
Another example is Pokhin – a mix of seven grains and salt that’s eaten on the conclusion of the “Ninevite Supplication,” a quick observed by Assyrian Christians to commemorate Jonah and their repentance before God. It is believed that those that fast may have prophetic dreams, and the salty Pokhin mixture helps thirsty singles dream of their future soul mates.
Such rituals are passed down by elders and related to the lands with which these communities are connected.
Today, these communities are still scattered and their suffering continues. Many of the locals involved in our project, including colleagues who’ve been defenders of their culture, have given up – often leaving the region, preferring to turn into refugees in unknown lands with an uncertain future. Younger generations may not realize the depth of the connections between religious practices and community legends, that are intertwined through oral traditions.
The enormous political and economic pressure and insecurity they proceed to feel are the explanations for his or her flight. But as someone who knows the region thoroughly, I imagine that safeguarding the region's traditions and cultural diversity through efforts to preserve them can provide hope and pave a way forward.
image credit : theconversation.com