Yazidis divided over selection of new leader
After the death of the spiritual leader of the Yazidi sect in Iraq and the world, differences come up over the selection of his successor.
ERBIL, Iraq — Yazidi Prince Tahseen Said died in a hospital in Germany Jan. 28 at the age of 86 after a long struggle with illness. His death launched a debate about his potential successor in the international Yazidi community. The debate revealed strong divisions over the leadership of this minority group that lived through a genocide perpetrated by the Islamic State in the summer of 2014.
The prince's remains reached Iraqi Kurdistan Feb. 4. Officials from both the Baghdad and Erbil governments attended the funeral. Prince Tahseen was buried in his hometown of Baadra in the Shekhan district of the Ninevah governorate.
Prince Tahseen was born Aug. 15, 1933. He was crowned prince of the Yazidis following the nomination of his grandmother, Princess Meyan Khatun, and the approval of the government of the Kingdom of Iraq. After his father, Prince Saied Ali Bek, died in 1944, he took over and led the Yazidis for more than seven decades.
The prince did not nominate a leader of the Yazidi emirate — a social and symbolic entity — or a successor to the throne. The void left the Yazidi community filled with uncertainty.
