MIDDLE EAST:Little has been done for the ethnic group since the bombing at Kahtaniya killed 330, writes Michael Jansenin northern Iraq
The situation of the Yezidis, like Iraq's other minorities, is worse today than during the reign of the ousted Baath party.
The Yezidis, Kurdish monotheists, were formerly neglected but not targeted by the government or its allies. Meriam Hassan Ibrahim, one of the three Yezidi members of the Kurdish regional assembly, said that now the Yezidis are ignored by the authorities and under pressure from al-Qaeda, Sunni Kurds, Arab jihadists and criminal gangs.
"Before, Yezidis, Sunnis and Christians were living peacefully together. But now our villages are caught up in sectarian warfare like Baghdad," says Ibrahaim. She described the suicide bombing in the village of Kahtaniya, which killed more than 330 Yezidis in mid-August, as the worst atrocity.
"The police say they have caught those responsible but there has been no court case. We are not even sure who is conspiring against Yezidis."
The Iraqi government has done nothing to reconstruct the village, located on the Syrian border outside the Kurdish region. People, she adds, have no shelter, no water and no food.
Violent incidents against Yezidis began in April when family members murdered a Yezidi girl who had married or consorted with a Sunni whose supporters retaliated by killing 22 Yezidi workers.
Girls from a village in the Kurdish region recently began to be kidnapped and married by Sunni Kurdish men from a neighbouring village. Sunnis - who regard the Yezidis as infidels and "devil worshippers" because they regard Satan as a rehabilitated angel - claim they are bringing the girls to Islam. The fearful Yezidis, who number in tens of thousands, say nothing.
Ain Sifni, in the Shekhan district, has some 8,000 inha- bitants, 70 per cent Yezidi and the rest Christian and Muslim.
Babashaikh, the Yezidi chief cleric ranked as a bishop, is an elderly man who extends his hand to be kissed when Yezidi men come to pay respects and take seats round the courtyard of his home to be served sweet tea in small glasses.
"Since the time of Noah, this has been our place," he said, making it clear that his people are determined to stay and will continue worshipping in their temples with their distinctive spires tipped in gold.
Lalish, the site of the Yezidis' most sacred shrines, is a short drive from Ain Sifni. Pilgrims go barefoot in the holy precincts which contain two springs and the tomb of Shaikh Adi, a 12th-century mystic who is regarded as the father of Yezidism.
Although the faith has its roots in Mesopotamia's ancient religions, it has incorporated elements from Christianity and Islam.
Infants and children are brought here to be baptised. Women come with large swatches of bright silk, wet them in the springs and then tie them to the six columns in the building where Shaikh Adi is entombed.
They tie knots in the draperies and make wishes. The overwhelming desire of all Yezidis who live in Iraq during these deeply troubled days is for peace and understanding among the country's conflicted communities.