Bazarkurdistan:
Lalish Temple located in Sheikhan district in Nineveh Governorate, about (60) km northwest of Nineveh, and about (40 km) from Dohuk Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located in a mountain strait surrounded by mountains on its three sides and the road leading to it is a winding road in mountain valley.
Lalish Temple is the spiritual center of the Yazidi religion, and a place of annual pilgrimage. It is the location of the tomb of the Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, a central figure of the Yazidi faith. Yazidism is one of the oldest Eastern religions. The temple complex is rare in its architectural style, with incorporated ancient symbolism such as its conical domes (representing the sunrays) and the image of a black serpent next to its entrance door.
Lalish Temple, the holiest place for the Yazidi community, has been added to Iraq’s Tentative List last week. It was one of my proposals for the Arab States Top 50 Missing, so I was very happy to see it appear in the official records as well. My support for Lalish stems from my visit to the site in March 2014. It was the highlight of my tour through Iraqi Kurdistan: an introduction to one of those mysterious, small Middle Eastern religions that somehow in isolation have survived for centuries. Only 5 months later the rest of the world came to know the Yazidis as well, however in much more unfortunate circumstances – as victims from the Sinjar massacre and the genocide of Yazidis by ISIS.
In August 2014, the world witnessed genocide. Over the course of two weeks, the Sinjar region of Iraq was invaded by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). ISIS militants undertook a strategized campaign to ethnically cleanse Yazidis from existence.
Approximately 400,000 Yazidis fled to the neighboring Kurdistan Region of Iraq and tens of thousands took refuge on Mount Sinjar, where they faced near starvation. The rest, unable to flee, were killed or taken into captivity and subjected to horrific acts of violence – enslavement, forced labor, conscription, torture, and rape.
