The displacement of the Yezidis after the rise of ISIS in Northern Iraq

Abstract

In the summer of 2014 the expansion of “The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL/ISIS) from Syria into Iraqi territory triggered the displacement of two to three hundred thousand members of the Yezidi community in Northern Iraq. Displaced from Sinjar and other districts in the Nineveh governorate, the majority of Yezidis are hosted in the Dohuk governorate and are living there as internally displaced persons. The article explores the impact of the displacement from different angles and investigates the impact on the Yezidi community as well as the impact on ethnic and religious aspects of social life in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.