Yezidis Minority in Iraq Demand Ministerial Post
Dohuk, North Iraq -- A Yezidi MP from Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC) stated on Sunday that the Yezidi MPs in the Iraqi parliament represent 600,000 Yezidis, indicating that they have the right to hold a ministerial post in the Iraqi government. The Yezidis have seven MPs, six of them within the KBC, and the other was the share of the Yezidi sect according to the "quota" system. Amina Said Hassan told AKnews the six Yezidi MPs represent about 600,000 people, according to the electoral law. "Those Yezidis who voted for us are proud of belonging to Kurdish nationalism", she said pointing out that "the voters have the right to have a minister in the Iraqi government, like other Iraqi components such as Turkman and Christians ... We as yezidi MPs in the KBC sent a letter to the Kurdish leadership and President of the negotiating Kurdish delegation in Baghdad, and demanded of a ministerial position before the formation of the Iraqi government." "During the meeting of the Kurdish bloc, we also presented the same subject and we asked about our share as Yezidis, and we got the answer that the issue was resolved, and we will have a ministerial post." "If the Yezidi MPs got a ministry, it will be within the share of the KBC, because in such cases, the ministries are not distributed according to the components, but according to the blocs internalized within a single bloc." The Kurds got in the new government formation headed by Maliki the ministries of foreign affairs, health, Displacement and Migration, trade, Women's Affairs, Civil Society Affairs, and State ministry. The Foreign ministry was given to Hoshyar Zebari, health to Majeed Mohammed Amin, Displacement and Migration for Dindar Nujman,and the persosn who will hold the other ministries will not be named. According to researchers, the Yezidi religion is an ancient Kurdish religion because all the religious texts are recited in the Kurdish language in the Yezidi events and religious rituals. According to informal Yezidi sources, about 85% of the Yezidi areas are found within the areas whose ownership is disputed by Baghdad and Erbil governments. According to government estimates, the number of Yezidis is about half a million people in Iraq including the Kurdistan Region, with the majority of them living in Nineveh and Dohuk provinces.