Yazidis & Kurds Overwhelmingly Reject Barzani-backed “Emir”
Press Release: Yazidis and supporting Kurds have stood up in outrage and mass protests against the illegal attempt of the Barzani leadership of the Kurdistan government to unilaterally appoint and declare a claimed “Emir” (Chief Prince) of the independent Yazidis, considered part of Kurdish hijacking of Yazidi ethnic identity in violation of indigenous rights under international law.
The Barzani appointed self-proclaimed “Emir”, Hazem Tahsin Bek, son of the late Emir of the Tahsin family, was actually a member of the Kurdish Parliament, and was “named” as the Yazidi “leader” only by five members of his own “High Spiritual Council” led by the previous Baba Sheikh.
It has been widely known that the Tahsin family and their appointed Baba Sheikh have been controlled under coercion and threats by the Barzani faction of Kurdistan since 2014, even forcing the Baba Sheikh to publicly deny Yazidi indigenous ethnic identity and to renounce plans to reassert Yazidi sovereignty.
The attempted usurpation of Yazidi sovereignty by the Barzani-backed Tahsin was rejected and condemned by the Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress (Arabic), the Ezidkhan Protection Force with the Yazidi Democratic Party (Arabic), groups of Yazidi Professionals (Arabic), and by many other Yazidi leadership groups (Arabic).
A lawyer resigned (Arabic) from the “Spiritual Council” of the Barzani-led Tashin family, citing external interference by “some non-Yazidi people”, protesting that the council “did not play any role” in “selection of the Prince”.
A Member of Iraqi Parliament (Arabic) also resigned from the “Spiritual Council”, protesting that the appointment “excluded many Sheikhs and Tribal Leaders” of the Yazidi People, ignoring “their gathering more than three months ago and the demands then submitted” by Yazidi leaders, as a result of pre-arranged “agreed agendas… under external guidance”.
Even a younger Prince of the Tahsin family (Arabic) condemned how this was “imposed on the Yazidis… for personal interests… disrespecting the will of the Yazidi People”, and called to “stand up against those who want to deprive of our rights”.
One Iraqi Member of Parliament (Arabic) officially condemned the event as an “attempt to impose will upon this ancient people”, and a power-grab by “one side at the expense of another”, which “will undermine the Yazidi identity”.
Even the Leader of the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Qasim Shasho, issued a video statement rejecting the Barzani-backed appointment of the claimed Yazidi “Emir” Tahsin.
Shockingly, even the claimed “Coronation” ceremony of Tahsin itself was not free from protests: A video of the event shows a young Prince from Tahsin’s own family taking the microphone, and rejecting and condemning it as “wrong”.
Hazim Tahsin discredited himself in all Yazidi communities by his own speech at the self-proclaimed “Coronation” event, by thanking only three officials of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), its former president Masoud Barzani, current president Nechervan Barzani, and prime minister Masrour Barzani. No Yazidi tribal leaders were thanked, as all were excluded.
Hazim Tahsin especially outraged Yazidis worldwide by his statements in a television interview announcing his supposed “Coronation”: He opposed the beloved Yazidi Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Morad for her exposing the Kurdistan hijacking of Yazidi identity for theft of Yazidi ancestral lands. He also denied the ancient Yazidi indigenous ethnic identity, declaring the false Barzani propaganda that “Yazidis are religiously distinct but Kurdish by nationality”.
The inter-governmental law firm Magna Carta Bar Chambers already published a Barristers Opinion on Yazidi Royal Succession in January 2019, which proved that ancient Yazidi law of the “Rule of Succession” and “Rule of Coronation”, confirmed by the “Proclamation of Sharaf ad-Din”, strictly disqualify any candidate “associated with political parties” – specifically Kurdish political leaders. (Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2004: Yazidis: Social and Religious Groups.)
The Barrister’s Opinion also proved that the ancient Yazidi law on Royal Succession constitutes “rules of customary international law” which are binding upon all countries (UN Law of Treaties, Articles 3, 38), such that no government can claim to recognize a Kurdish-appointed Yazidi Emir in violation of indigenous Yazidi law.
The Yazidi People have been officially recognized as a sovereign indigenous nation separate from the Kurds, by the League of Nations in 1925, the United Nations Refugee Agency in 2007, Human Rights Watch in 2009, and the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2016.
Years of propaganda by the Barzani faction of Kurdistan denying these facts is considered an illegal hijacking of the ancient Yazidi indigenous ethnic identity, contributing to their genocide.
Related Article: Yazidis Unifying in New Leadership Towards Sovereignty
_________________________________
Press Agency: The facts and contents of this authorized Press Release are certified and reported by Barristers of the Magna Carta Bar Chambers (MCBC), an international law firm and university law center supporting projects of public interest of its institutional and governmental clients, licensed by multiple governments including the inter-governmental organization (IGO) Ignita Veritas United.