Persecution of Yazidis

The persecution of Yazidis has been ongoing since at least 637 CE. Yazidis are an endogamous and mostly Kurmanji-speaking minority, indigenous to Kurdistan, who had also been persecuted when they followed Adawiyya, the predecessor of the Yazidi religion, which has historically been regarded as "devil-worship" among the followers of Abrahamic religions, primarily among Muslims and is still described as such by some, especially by Islamic extremists. Yazidis have been persecuted by surrounding Muslim state entities and groups since the medieval ages, most notably by Ottomans, neighbouring Muslim Arab and Kurdish tribes and principalities. After the 2014 Sinjar massacre of thousands of Yazidis by ISIL, which started the ethnic, cultural, and religious genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq, Yazidis still face discrimination from the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.