Ezidixan/West-Şingal (EPC)

 region, draw only border, do not draw title

'''Ezidkhan''' (Êzîdxan, ئێزدیخانە) is an officially declared de facto autonomous area established in the western part of the Iraqi Sinjar region.

The word Ezidkhan comes from the historical use of the word Ezidkhan referring to the entire historical area of settlement of the [[Yazidis]] encompassing entire Sinjar and Lalish regions.

== Governance and security ==
The governance of the present day de facto autonomous region of Ezidixan in West Sinjar is conducted by the [[Ezidixan People’s Council|Ezidixan People’s Council (EPC)]].

<ref name="YezidiPost">{{cite news|title=Baba Sheikh declares formation of Yezidi nation "Ezdixan" and bless formation of cabinet council|url=yezidipost.com/2017/07/26/baba-shiekh-declares-formatio... September 2017|agency=Yezidi Post|publisher=Yezidi Post|date=2017-07-25}}</ref> <ref name="aina_announment">{{cite news|title=Yazidis Proclaim the Establishment of a Provisional Government|url=http://aina.org/news/20170725131025.html|accessdate=5 September 2017|agency=AINA News|publisher=http://aina.org|date=2017-07-25 17:10 GMT}}</ref>

The internal security of the area is conducted by the [[Asayîşa Êzîdxanê]]-police force led by [[Hussein Erzurum]]. <ref name="Anha">{{cite web |url=http://ku.hawarnews.com/asayisa-ezdixane-hat-avakirin/|title=Asayîşa Êzdîxanê hat avakirin|work=ANHA|date=6 July 2016}} Retrieved 24 July 2016. (in [[Northern Kurdish language]])</ref>

The military security of the area is conducted by the groups of the [[Sinjar Alliance]] ([[Sinjar Resistance Units|Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ)]], the [[Êzîdxan Women's Units]] (YJÊ) and the formerly Peshmerga-aligned [[Êzîdxan Protection Force|Êzîdxan Protection Force (HPÊ)]]) and Arab [[Al-Sanadid Forces]] in the Êmdiban area of west Sinjar with the support of the Syrian YPG.

== Geography ==
At present time the de facto autonomous area includes the town of Khana Sor and the area surrounding the villages Emdîban, Şikenî, Bare, Bahrava, Meçnunî, Sewra, Heyalê, Hassina, Kebarê, Karsi, Kolkan, Haliqiyya, Sardeshti camps, Dare Karsi, Faydi Talani, Mshirfah, Bir Qasim, Hasso Beg, El Sahal, Bir Jari, Zaku, El Juli, Khirbet Arnouki, Tal Mushrif, Al Faw, Hamsaka, Çefriyê and most of the Sinjar mountains.
Outside this area it has a substantial but diffuse influence over other area's of Sinjar and Sinjar town.

The historical Ezidkhan area includes the [[Sinjar District]] ([[Sinjar]] town, Khana Sor, Sinune, Zorava, Gohbal, Borek, Dohula, Dugure, Siba Sheikh Khidir, Til Ezer, Kocho etc.) and [[Shekhan District]] ([[Ain Sifni|Shekhan]] town, [[Ba'adra]], [[Lalish]], Hahad etc.) and also parts of the [[Al-Hamdaniya District]] ([[Bashiqa]] and [[Bahzani]]) and [[Tel Keppe District]] ([[Khatarah|Hatarah]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Università di Torino. Facoltà di lettere e filosofia|last2=Centro ricerche archeologiche e scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l'Asia (Italy)|last3=Centro scavi di Torino per il medio oriente e l'Asia|title=Mesopotamia, Volume 32|date=1997|publisher=Giappichelli|url=books.google.co.uk/books?id=1KltAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Hatarah%2...}}</ref> [[Bozan, Iraq|Bozan]] etc.) in the [[Nineveh Governorate]] in northern [[Iraq]].

== Etymology, historical references and modern day reappearance ==
The term Ezidkhan is also often found in the sacred texts of the Yezidi. An example of this is the Qesîda Şerfedîn (The message of Sherfedin):<ref>{{cite web|url=ezidileaks.blogspot.de/2015/04/sheikh-sherfedin-und-sei...ÊzîdîLeaks: Sheikh Sherfedin und seine militärischen Aktivitäten|publisher=|accessdate=16 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ezipedia.de/qesida-serfedin-die-botschaft-serfedins/|title=Qesîda Şerfedîn – Die Botschaft Şerfedîns|publisher=|accessdate=16 January 2016}}</ref>

* Ciwabê bidne Êzîdxanê (Proclaims the message in the Land of the Yezidis)
* Bila qayîmkin Îmanê (They should consolidate and defend their faith)
* Şerfedîn mîr e li dîwanê (Sherfedin is the prince in residence)

Due to the formation of dedicated Yezidi defensive groups in response to the advance of the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]], the term 'Ezidkhan' stated experienced greater usage.<br>
In October 2015 the Yekîneyên Parastina Jin ê Şengalê or '''YPJ-Sinjar''' (Women's Defense Units of Sinjar) changed its name to Yekinêyen Jinên Êzidxan or '''YJÊ''' ([[Êzidxan Women's Units|Ezidkhan Women's Units]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=anfenglish.com/women/ypj-shengal-changes-its-name-to-yj... - Ajansa Nûçeyan a Firatê|publisher=|accessdate=16 January 2016}}</ref><br>
And in November 2015 the Hêza Parastina Şingal or '''HPŞ''' ([[Protection Force of Sinjar]]) changed its name to Hêza Parastina Êzîdxanê or '''HPÊ''' ([[Êzîdxan Protection Force|Protection Force of Ezidkhan]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=ezidipress.com/blog/hps-benennt-sich-in-hpe-um-heza-par...Ş benennt sich in HPÊ um: Hêza Parastina Êzîdxan – ÊzîdîPress|publisher=|accessdate=16 January 2016}}</ref>

== Recent history and establishing of administration ==
By the end of June 2014, the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL) declared itself a [[caliphate]] in areas of Syria and [[Iraq]] and that month they took control of significant territories in northern Iraq.<br>

While during July 2014 the Iraqi federal military forces fled from the advancing ISIL troops in Sinjar, the Iraqi Kurdish regional goverment's [[Peshmerga]] fighters briefly filled the vacuum and entered the Sinjar region.<ref name=Reut9-8>{{cite web|url=www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/09/us-iraq-security-idU... says tackling Iraq’s insurgency will take time |work=Reuters|date=9 August 2014|accessdate=15 March 2015}}</ref><ref name=arab2-8-14>{{cite web|url=english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/08/02/Ar... kill dozens as Iraq fighting rages|date=2 August 2014|publisher=English.alarabiya.net|accessdate=15 March 2015}}</ref>

During August 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launched their next offensive in Northern Iraq and pushed further in to the sinjar region and took Sinjar town from Peshmerga forces that entered the city the previous month. Some 50,000 [[Yazidis]] fled on to and remained on the [[Sinjar Mountains]].<ref name="Background">{{cite web|url=www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/early-success-kurds-si... Early Success for the Kurds in Sinjar|work=The New Yorker|accessdate=19 December 2014}}</ref><br>

By the end of August 2014, the majority of those 50,000 Yazidis had left the mountains, although several thousands stayed there. ISIL held onto [[Sinjar]] city and the southern entrance of the [[Sinjar Mountains]].

On 21 October 2014, as Peshmerga forced further retreated from the area, ISIL also seized most of the terrain north of the mountains, thereby largely cutting the area's escape route from the Sinjar mountain toward Kurdish areas in Iraq and Syria.
Most of the Yazidi's own militias withdrew from the plains on to the heights of isolated Sinjar Mountains and Syria, where the number of Yazidi civilian refugees was rising.<ref name="agat21-10-14">{{cite web|url=http://www.agathocledesyracuse.com/archives/115|title=Iraq Sinjar battle (21 Oct 2014) |work=Agathocle de Syracuse|date=21 October 2014| accessdate=24 March 2015}}</ref>

The capture of most of the Sinjar area led to the [[Sinjar massacre]] and the besieging of thousands of Yezidi on the Sinjar mountains by ISIL.

During and previous of the [[December 2014 Sinjar offensive]] the Syrian YPG and local yezidi forces created and safeguarded a corridor from Syria southeastwards to the Sinjar mountains with the support of US airstrikes.
Several local Yezidi groups established thereby direct control over the '''western parts of the Sinjar region''', without any Peshmerga involvement<br>
Most notably the [[Sinjar Resistance Units|Sinjar Resistance Units (YBŞ)]], the [[Êzîdxan Women's Units]] (YJÊ) and the formerly Peshmerga-aligned [[Êzîdxan Protection Force|Êzîdxan Protection Force (HPÊ)]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Independent Yezidi units join Shingal alliance |url=ezidipress.com/en/independent-yezidi-units-join-shingal... |work=Êzîdî Press |date=31 October 2015 |accessdate=13 November 2015}}</ref> now all part of the [[Sinjar Alliance]]<ref>{{cite web|url=ezidipress.com/en/yezidi-forces-form-alliance-against-i... forces form alliance against IS|work=Ezidipress|date=31 October 2015}}</ref>.

The Iraqi Kurdistans Peshmerga with the help of the formerly Peshmerga-aligned [[Êzîdxan Protection Force|Êzîdxan Protection Force (HPÊ)]] and the support of US airstrikes created a corridor from the Iraqi Kurdistan region toward the eastern end of the Sinjar mountains. Therby re-establishing control over the '''eastern parts of the Sinjar region'''.

The local Yezidi groups with the support of the Syrian-Kurdish YPG and [[Al-Sanadid Forces]] (from the Arabic [[Shammar]] tribe) in Êmdiban established an autonomous region with local councils
seeking federal autonomy following the Iraqi constitution and blocking KDP-Peshmerga and the Kurdish regional government from entering the western Sinjar-area.

On 20 August 2017 the Ezidixan People’s Council (EPC) formalized the since 2015 de facto separate control status of the western sinjar region, by declaring autonomy in a public statement. According to ''Basnews'' the mayor of [[Sinjar]] "called PKK’s move an external project, reiterating that the presence of PKK in Sinjar is illegal and a violation of the sovereignty of the region. PKK-affiliated groups in Sinjar do not represent the Kurdish Yezidis and their actions do not serve the interests of Yezidis, he said."<ref name="Basnews">{{cite news|title=PKK Establishes Ezidkhan Self-Governance Council in Sinjar|url=http://www.basnews.com/index.php/en/news/kurdistan/373128|accessdate=5 September 2017|publisher=Basnews|date=23 Aug 2017}}</ref><ref>www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/dc6ea92a-a066-4231-9443-c58... <ref>gazetekarinca.com/2017/08/sengalde-demokratik-ozerklik-...


The Şhengal or Sinjar District was a district of the Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. Now the northern part is governed by the autonomous Kurdistan Region Goverment (KRG) and local Jezidi insitutions. The district seat was the town of Şhengal or Sinjar. The district has four subdistricts, al-Shemal, al-Qayrawan, al-Qahtaniyah and Şhengal or Sinjar. The district is one of two major population centers of the Yazidi with the other being Shekhan District. The majority of the population is Kurdish. The Şhengal or Sinjar mountains are the most sacred place to the Yezidi, witch have Kurdish origin.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidis
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazd%C3%A2nism

UNAMI was provided documentation of a government campaign that destroyed 137 Yazidi villages in the Jebel
Sinjar mountains following the collapse of the 1975 Kurdish movement. Tens of thousands of village inhabitants were
forcibly settled into eleven collective compounds primarily located in Shemal

History:

The district borders and is a crossing point with Syria. The district is 136 km from Mosul city, the capital of the Nineveh Governorate. The Şhengal or Sinjar Mountains are located in the district. The district's economy is primarily based on agriculture with the main crops being barley, figs, wheat, and tobacco. In the villages of Ain al-Ghazal and Hayali exist oil fields, which were closed because of the Iraq war. Natural gas and heavy minerals exist in the Şhengal or Sinjar Mountains.

"Generally speaking the area covered by Yazidi migrations
extended as far north as the Wadi al-Radd and reached the al -Bidi settlement 25 kilometers south of Wardiyyah, and Yazidi
flock s seldom grazed further west than the Khatuniyyah lake. Various factors related to political and ecological
conditions, played a determining role in securing Yazidi nomads access to t h e i r pastures outside the Jabal Jaribah.
Among the most important were the extent of or lack of state control over the people of the plains , Yazidi relations with
the Arab Bedouin leadership and favourable climatic conditions which could guarantee sufficient animal fodder." [1]

Şhengal or Sinjar District was created in 1934 by Royal decree. After the 1935 Yazidi revolt, the district was place under military control.
In 2007, several explosions set off by al-Qaeda in Iraq killed hundreds of Yazidis in Shengal or Sinjar..

In August 2014, the Siege of Mount Şhengal or Sinjar raged between Sunni militants of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and on the other side the Kurdish Peshmerga and local Yezidi groups leading to a mass exodus of residents, especially from the Yezidi community, branded by the Islamic State as "devil worshipers", after the Peshmerga was defeated. The New York Times reported that ISIL killed dozens of Yezidi men and forced their women to marry jihadi fighters.

A Kurdish offensive occurred from December 17 to 21, 2014 from over the Syrian border by the Syrian Kurdish YPG and PKK-combatants from camps near Dohuk province. Which included the ending of the siege of Mount Sinjar/Shengal.

By november 2015 Peshmerga, several Jezidi militias, the YPG and PKK militants supported by international coalition intense air and indirect ground support started a major campain to free Şhengal /Sinjar city and the southern part of the district from ISIL control.

The start of this campain was delayed several times because of difficulties to reach an political agreement to in wich extend the different Kurdisch and Jezidi factions would have a role in governing the city and region/district .

According to Kurdish sources, nine Yezidi mass graves had been found by the end of the offensive. Eighteen Yezidi shrines have also been destroyed by ISIL militants since June 2014. As additional graves were found, masked Yazidis retaliated against assumed ISIL collaborators in four Muslim village in late January 2015 with Sibaya and Chiri attacked on January 25 and Khazuga and Sayer on January 26. Peshmerga were able to stop additional attacks on two more villages.