Paper short abstract:

Why Ezidis are killed by Islamists? The reasons for this are discussed in this study based on my fieldwork done in the last year in North Iraq with Ezidis.

Paper long abstract:

The Sinjar/Şingal massacre carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in August 2014 meant the killing of thousands of Ezidis, a small religious group based mostly in Iraq. In addition, thousands of Ezidi women were made slaves in Nineveh Governorate of Iraq. This was not the first Ezidi's massacre in the Middle East as 72 massacres of Ezidi have been recorded in history. The last one is called 'the 73rd Ezidi massacre'. But why are Ezidis are killed by Islamists, why do they become targets? The reasons for this are discussed in this study based on my fieldwork conducted over the last year in North Iraq with Yezidis.