A shopping mall named Shengal — an exotic name to Russians — is located in the eastern part of Moscow. Shengal is the Kurdish name of the city of Sinjar, which is located in northern Iraq where Yazidis live. Most of the customers I met in the shopping center have no idea what “Shengal” means. They also are unaware that on the ground floor of the building there is a TV studio called Lalish TV, the only satellite Yazidi channel in the world.
Lalish TV was launched in April. “We are the only Yazidi channel in Russia that broadcasts in the Yazidi language [Kurmanji or Kurdish dialect] for Yazidis all over the world. We have no link with any political party or movement. We are not politicized. Our aim is to help Yazidis save their identity. We want to give them more information about Yazidi culture, language, religion and history,” a representative of Lalish TV told Al-Monitor.
