Yazidi women have historically served as custodians of sacred knowledge, from the early role of the Çavuş to contemporary participation in the Supreme Yazidi Spiritual Council. This article traces their evolving religious authority, regional variations, and scholarly debates surrounding gendered leadership within Yazidism.
Ba’athist collective towns (mujamma’at) were introduced in the 1970s to relocate rural Yazidis into planned settlements. This forced urbanisation altered kinship patterns, religious authority, and land tenure, leaving lasting effects on Yazidi community life.
The 2014 ISIS assault on Sinjar caused massive loss of life, kidnappings, and displacement among the Yazidi community, reshaping the demographic profile of the minority both in Iraq and across the diaspora. Recent surveys and displacement studies quantify the mortality, kidnapping, and long‑term population shifts that continue to affect Yazidi society.
Yazidi women who survived ISIS sexual slavery receive a range of reparative and psychosocial programmes, from state‑run reparations under Iraq’s Yazidi Female Survivors Law to NGO‑led initiatives such as the Interim Reparative Measures project and community‑based mental‑health services.
Yazidi women in Georgia have become pivotal agents of religious revitalization, community organization, and cultural advocacy. Their leadership navigates post‑Communist identity shifts, institutional reforms, and persistent societal barriers while shaping the future of the Yazidi diaspora.
The former Ba’athist collective towns of Iraq’s Nineveh Plains were devastated by ISIS between 2014 and 2017. Since 2018, a mix of local dialogue, agricultural programmes and international aid have sought to restore housing, livelihoods and social cohesion, yet funding gaps, security concerns and cultural heritage loss remain major obstacles.
Yazidi survivors of the ISIS‑led genocide receive a range of mental‑health supports in diaspora settings, from culturally‑adapted counseling and community healing farms to publicly funded trauma programmes. Canada, Germany and community NGOs lead efforts, yet barriers such as language, stigma and limited culturally safe providers persist.
The article examines the legal instruments governing oil and gas revenue distribution in Iraq’s Sinjar district, focusing on the 2020 Sinjar Agreement and its 2021 extensions, and assesses the prospects for equitable sharing between Baghdad and Erbil amid competing local and regional interests.
In Turkey, Yazidi women navigate a complex social fabric, exercising informal religious authority, preserving oral traditions, and acting as community mediators despite formal exclusion from the priestly castes. Fieldwork in Batman‑Beşiri and oral histories reveal their pivotal influence on rituals, mourning practices, and cultural resilience.
Second‑generation Yazidis in Europe sustain Kurdish (Kurmanji) proficiency through family transmission, community schools, religious practice, digital media and transnational networks. Their strategies reveal a dynamic balance between integration and cultural preservation.