Iraqi Yazidis: Their Migration to Europe and Its Motives

Abstract

The paper deals with internal migrants from the Yazidi minority in Iraq. It is a case study based on a field research conducted in March 2016 on the territory of the Kurdish regional government in Northern Iraq. The paper is based on thirty semi-structured interviews with refugees both inside and outside refugee camps, and it discusses the motivations that the refugees take into consideration while making decisions about their possible future migration (their lack of trust toward the central and the Kurdish regional government, their Arab neighbours, and their elites, the situation in the camps, the economic crisis, etc.). This case study provides a perspective of the Yazidi refugees themselves that is in some respect specific for this minority but also contributes to the general discussion about motivations of refugees from the war zones in the contemporary Middle East.