"The Arabs want to kill us, and the Kurds want to change our religion" - Mir of Yezidis Tahsin Said Beg.

We bring to your attention the translation of a series of articles-dispatches of the American Embassy in Iraq to the center, to Washington. Data posted on an obscure site Wikileaks.org. We are confident that these articles will shed light on the sentiments towards the Yezidis, both on the part of the US administration of that time, and the local Iraqi and Regional government of Kurdistan. It was the attitude towards the Yezidis in those distant zero years that was the result of the catastrophe that the Yezidi people faced one-on-one already in 2014.

This dispatch was written by an American diplomat on September 11, 2007, who held private meetings with the World of Yezidis, Tahsin Said Beg. Mir Tahsin foresaw the forced emigration of Yazidis from Iraq back in 2007. He, right, prioritized threats — the first was precisely the threat posed by Al-Qaeda terrorists. But the most remarkable thing is that, according to the World, the Yezidis have never been Kurds.

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•On August 29, Jason P. Hyland traveled to Ain Sifni (present-day Sheikhan, Iraq) to discuss political and security issues with the Yezidi World of Tahsin Beg, following the terrorist attacks on two Yezidi villages in August 2014. He was very grateful to the United States for its efforts to help the Yazidi community in Iraq after the August 2014 bombings. He again repeated privately that the Yezidis are not Kurds. However, he expressed deep concerns about the hidden Islamist orientation among Kurdish officials. Jason P. Hyland urged him to cooperate with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) to improve the security of the population.

•Even though the security situation in Ain Sifni (Iraq) is an order of magnitude better than in Mosul (a city in northern Iraq), Tahsin Beg still said that he fears an attack by Al-Qaeda (one of the largest ultra-radical international terrorist organizations. Mosul is in the "green Line", where the Peshmerga (Kurdish armed forces) and Asayish (local law enforcement forces (internal troops) operating in the regions of Jazira, Kobani and Afrin as part of Syrian Kurdistan) patrol the streets and organize checkpoints into the city. Markets are rich in goods, and people conduct their business normally. However, Tahsin Beg said that "since ISIS issued a religious decree authorizing the killing of Yezidis," his people feel unsafe, including in the villages of Dahuk Province (Iraq), the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The words of the late Tahsin Beg: "On the one hand, the South: they want to kill us; on the other hand, the Kurds: they want us to renounce our religion." He spoke sharply about the limited possibilities that his community would be completely taken under the protection of coalition forces or would emigrate en masse.

•(Strategic Business Unit) Discussing the August 14th bombings, Tahsin Beg, and then the supreme spiritual leader of the Yezidis, Bawe Sheikh, expressed gratitude to everyone — coalitions, the UN, local Arabs, provincial Kurdish and central governments — for the assistance provided to two Yezidi villages in western Ninivia (Iraq). Stating that the economic situation in both villages is very good, thanks to donations, and that immediate assistance is no longer required. Noting the news that the Minister of the Environment has led the restoration work on the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih. Bawe Sheikh said it was time to focus on recovery before winter came and exacerbated the suffering of the affected families. The GRPN (Nineveh Province Reconstruction Group) will continue its coordination efforts.

•At a private audience at his home, Tahsin Beg said that the Yezidis are not Kurds, and not Muslims. (Note: Before that, Tahsin Beg privately told GRPN that Yezidis are different from Kurds). He explicitly stated that his people support joining the KRG, adding that "the Yezidis will be safer with the KRG, unless they want to change our religion." He claimed that the KRG is currently implementing a program of Sunni Kurdish settlements in areas traditionally dominated by Yazidis, out of fear that one day the Yazidis will want autonomy. He has repeatedly stated that although he had excellent relations with the leaders of the Kurdish parties (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP)), but many KDP officials, although they were party members, were "Islamists".

Mlêtê Êzidî