A shot from the music video of the artist Rosen, shot at the Lalish Temple. Photo Rosena's Facebook page.

Representatives of the clergy, as well as the deputy emir of the Yezidis, are calling on the Ministry of Culture of the Kurdistan regional government to ban the broadcast of the video clip of the artist Rozhin, claiming that the song is aimed at insulting the shrine of the Lalesh Temple.

Last week, the artist Rozhin Ulker completed the shooting of her new video in the sanctuary of the Lalesh temple, some photos and footage that were taken during the recording of the video clip and distributed on social networks caused a wave of protests.

Arshad Hamad Maho, an expert on the history of the Yazidis from Dohuk University, said the word Lalesh has the meaning of silence. Everyone who enters the temple must remain silent and take off their shoes, and not dance on the territory of the temple. Some of the singer's film crew entered the temple territory in unsuitable shoes and clothes, which is unacceptable.

We are not against a video clip about the Yazidis, even if it was shot inside the Lalesh temple, but this method is incorrect, as are the video clips that were previously produced in Lalesh. Such mistakes should not continue.

The scenes of this video clip have wounded the hearts of thousands of Yazidis. The Lalesh temple should not turn into a studio where someone makes a video clip, and those who are in the temple should not allow this, as well as the Emir of the Yezidis, the Bawe Sheikh and the Spiritual Council of the Yezidis.

Lalesh Temple in the Sheikhan district on the Nineveh Plain, the most sacred religious place of the Yazidis of the whole world. All religious and ritual ceremonies of the Yezidis are held in this temple.

Some Yazidis post photos and excerpts from the video clip on social networks, accompanied by expressions of discontent. The video shows how some participants of the video clip indulge in their religious clothes, the film crew and the artistic team accompanying the artist Rozhin are on the territory sacred to the Yazidis in relatively short trousers.

One of the Yazidi activists, Elias Khatari, said:

What happened is a huge mistake. The person who gave permission to shoot this video clip is responsible for this. Lalesh is not a place for playing drums and zanna, it is a place of worship. There are religious dances in the Yazidi religion, but creating a video clip with these frames is a red line.

Rozhin Ulker visited the Emir of the Yazidis and received his permission before starting to shoot the video, this was confirmed by Jowhar Ali Bey, deputy emir of the Yazidis.

Without going into details of the conditions that he set for the film crew accompanying the singer, Jowhar Ali Bey said.

The members of the film crew did not follow the instructions given to them, which forces us to take strict measures against the leaders who are preparing the video clip, and we ask the Ministry of Culture of the Kurdistan Regional Government to prevent the broadcast of this clip.

From now on, no artist or art troupe will be allowed to shoot songs or any other works of art in the Lalesh temple, the deputy emir of the Yazidis said.

For an excerpt from the shooting of the video clip, see here http://yazidis.info/ru/news/5676

Ammar Aziz