Thanks to Private Internet Access for sponsoring this video! Go to https://www.piavpn.com/ADayInHistory to get 83% off Private Internet Access with 4 months free! In 2014, the world came to know the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as it exploded onto the global scene with bloody conquests in Iraq and the Middle East. ISIS became legendary for its barbarism: it beheaded prisoners, forced captives into slavery, and destroyed anything that conflicted with their extremist ideology. In August 2014, the small Yazidi ethnic group would face the full force of this brutality. Today on A Day In History, we explore a tale of slavery, depravity, and mass murder in the 21st century genocide of the Yazidis of Iraq. If the topic of this video is interesting to you, consider subscribing and checking out the other videos on this channel, and leave a like to show your appreciation. Who Are the Yizidis? Not many people have heard of the Yazidis. After all, even the highest estimates place their global population at no more than 1.5 million, or as low as 700,000. The Yizidis are a small Kurdish ethnic group who have traditionally lived in small pockets of the area known informally as ‘Kurdistan’ in Iraq, although today they also have a diaspora of a few hundred thousands around the world. The history of the Yazidis mirrors that of other Kurdish peoples - recurring persecution from the numerous states and empires who have ruled over them, but despite it all they have maintained their own communities, language, culture, and religion. This Yazidi religion is unique. They are monotheists, but not Abrahamic like Christians or Muslims, and instead their religion draws more from the ancient Persian Zoroastrian faith. This religion has been a primary motivation for their persecution. Muslim rulers have oppressed them as ‘unbelievers’ and Yazidi persecution has not been met with the same sympathy in the Christian world that fell upon people like the Armenians. Music: Epidemic music #yazidi #isis #history Sources: Atika Shubert and Bharati Naik, ‘ISIS ‘forced pregnant Yazidi women to have abortions’’, CNN, 6th October 2015, https://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/06/middleeast/pregnant-yazidis-forced-abortions-isis/index.html David Stout, ‘Be Captured and Killed, or Risk Dying of Thirst: The Awful Choice Facing the Refugees of Sinjar’, Time, 6th August 2014, https://time.com/3085270/iraq-yazidi-mount-sinjar-islamic-state-refugees/ Elizabeth Hagedorn, ‘Rescuers scout Syria for Yazidis still trapped in enslavement’, Middle East Eye, 4th March 2020, https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/node/160906 Lori Himmar, Maya Alleruzzo, and Balint Szlanko, ‘Islamic State Tightens Grip on Captives Held as Sex Slaves’, Associated Press, 6th July 2016, https://apnews.com/general-news-7685e20b2883496abc3d0911de6c67ab Rukmini Callimachi, ‘ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape’, New York Times, 13th August 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/middleeast/isis-enshrines-a-theology-of-rape.html Rukmini Callimachi, ‘ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape’, Washington Post, 13th August 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/middleeast/isis-enshrines-a-theology-of-rape.html Sefik Tagay et al, ‘The 2014 Yazidi Genocide and Its Effect on Yazidi Diaspora’, The Lancet, 390 (10106), (2017), p1946 Sheren Khalel and Matthew Vickey, ‘Playing Dead: How One Man Survived an IS Massacre’, Middle East Eye, 13th February 2015, https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/playing-dead-how-one-man-survived-massacre UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Iraq: 6 July – 10 September 2014, , October 2014 Copyright © 2023 A Day In History. All rights reserved. DISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to adayinhistory2021@gmail.com