Tributes paid to Yezidi spiritual leader laid to rest in Shekhan

ERBIL, Kurdistan region – Tributes have been paid to Yezidi spiritual leader Baba Sheikh Khurto Hajji Ismail, who is being buried in Shekhan’s Bozan village today. 

He was a peace advocate and loved by all the Yezidis and respected by different communities in Iraq and around the world," read an official statement from Yezidi organisation Yazda.

"Baba Sheikh will be remembered in our history as one of the most important leaders of the Yezidis," said The Free Yezidi Foundation. "Baba Sheikh has comforted those in the Yezidi community suffering the most and has stood as symbol of pride and resilience for our people during our difficult days."

"It hurts a lot...his greatest wish: peace, dignity and protection for his Yezidi people has not come true," tweeted German Yezidi activist and journalist Duzen Tekkal.

Khairy Bozani, head of Yezidi Affairs at  the KRG Ministry of Religious Affairs told Rudaw on Friday that Baba Sheikh will be buried in a special religious ceremony.

“All preparations have been completed and the Sheikh will be buried with a ‘proper religious’ ceremony in the village of Bozan in Shekhan town,” Bozani said.

“We are very sad, this man was a symbol of peace, brotherhood and sincerity," his brother Edo Sheikh told Rudaw.

Baba Sheikh, who was 87 years old, passed away on Thursday after being hospitalized for health complications.

The religious leader was hospitalized on Tuesday for deteriorating kidney and heart issues.

Yezidi activist Murad Ismael remembers Baba Sheikh as someone who “reconciled” Yezidis at times of differences.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani released a statement on Thursday, sending his condolences to Baba Sheikh’s family and the Yezidi community as a whole. 

“Baba Sheikh, as a religious leader of the Yezidis, devoted his life to the Yezidis’ cause and spent many years caring for the religious and social affairs of the Yezidis, and he had a remarkable role in coexistence and acceptance of others, and his traces and imprint will remain eternal,” Barzani said. 

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also expressed his condolences over the death of the leader in a statement late Thursday, saying "Baba Sheikh was a renowned and important figure in the Kurdistan Region and the world. He played a significant role in promoting religious coexistence in the Kurdistan Region."