Country: Iraq

Group: Kaka’i

Date Finalized: 11/15/2021 

Team: Kamaria Boyston (lead), Analisa Jimenez,Omer Carrillo, Elizabeth Ardila

The quality of the data is a 3/3 due to the amount of credible sources that point to the evidence of ethnocide of the Kaka’i in Iraq.

            The Kaka’i, also known as Ahl-e Haqq or Yarsan, are estimated by community members to number between 110,000 and 200,000 in Iraq, mainly living south-east of Kirkuk and in the Ninewa plains near Daquq and Hamdaniya, with others based in Diyala, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah (Minority Rights, 2017). They follow a “syncretic” religion that feature Zoroastrianism and Shi’a Islam elements, which is not recognized in the constitution of Iraq. (Minority Rights, 2017). In recent years, the Kaka’i have been victims of ethnocide due to their religious identity. Saddam Hussein Arabization policies in 1979 forced many Kaka’i to identify as Arab. While the Kakai are normally secretive, they are coming forward with stories of persecution from the extremist groups in the surrounding areas in which they live. Their persecution by the extremists has forced them to keep their beliefs and rituals a secret. According to the BBC in 2019, they are being pursued by extremists like ISIS or al- Qaeda due to religious reasons (considering them to be infidels). ISIS reportedly released statements threatening Kaka’i with death if they did not convert to Islam. Several villages were taken over by ISIS, and the militant group also destroyed Kaka’i shrines in al-Hamdaniya district on the Ninewa plains (Minority Rights, 2017). Extremists killed more than one hundred Kaka’i in Kirkuk between 2003 and 2007 for practicing their religion (Hosseini, 2018, p. 162). The Kaka’i have also faced discrimination from the Shia Muslim-led paramilitary Popular Mobilisation force since the central government retook control of Kirkuk province from Kurdish forces in 2017 (Byrne, 2019). This religious persecution from extremists has forced many Kaka’i to leave and relocate to other communities. What used to be millions of Kaka’i has now reduced to around 200,000 Kaka’i people (BBC 2019). The only progress seen from this was when the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs recognized their religion in 2015, which has allowed them to have political participation.

Sources:

  1. Byrne, D. (2019). “The Secretive Kaka’i of Iraq Are Finally Speaking Out.” BBC News, BBC, www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-48301954.
  2. Hosseini, S. (2018). The Kaka‘i: A religious minority in Iraq. Contemporary Review of the Middle East, 5(2), 156–169. https://doi.org/10.1177/2347798918762200
  3. Minority Rights Group (2017) “Kaka’i.” 6 Feb. 2021, minorityrights.org/minorities/kakai/.