Yazidi spiritual leader Baba Sheikh dies

Yazidi spiritual leader Baba Sheikh Khurto Hajji Ismail has died at the age of 87, according to officials.

Khairy Bouzani, head of the Yazidi affairs at Kurdistan Regional Government's endowment ministry, told Kurdish media network Rudaw, that Baba Sheikh died at a hospital in Erbil on Thursday. Bouzani said the spiritual leader's loss would leave a gaping hole in the community.

Director of Yazidi affairs in Dohuk, Jafar Samou, also confirmed Baba Sheikh's death after he was hospitalized on Tuesday, suffering from kidney and heart issues.

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A unifying figure

Baba Sheikh was someone who "reconciled" Yazidis at times of differences, activist Murad Ismael was reported as saying on Rudaw's website.

Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani expressed similar sentiments, as well as his condolences. 

"I join the Yazidi people in Kurdistan and the world over in mourning the passing of their spiritual leader Baba Sheikh," he said on Twitter. "His teachings of forgiveness and co-existence were crucial to the recovery of the Yazidi community, women especially, from one of its cruellest chapters." 

The Yazidis are a Kurdish religious minority of some one million individuals worldwide. According to the German Central Council of Yazidis, some 750,000 live in northwest Iraq alone, with other communities in Syria, Turkey and Iran.

The roots of their religion, Yazidism, can be traced back some 2,000 years before Christianity, though their belief practices combine elements of that religion with Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and ancient Mesopotamian religions.

The head of the Yazidi community Mir Tahsin died in January 2019, with his son, Hazim, taking over from him.