Iraqi scholar burns his books to protest Yazidi ethnic cleansing

On Sept. 18, Bir Khadr Suleiman, a famous Iraqi writer and researcher, burned all the books in his personal library to protest the extermination of Iraq’s minorities. In Dahuk in northern Iraq, Suleiman gathered his books, and, in the presence of a number of his supporters, burned them while weeping over his many years of work.

Suleiman is one of Iraq's most famous researchers on the Yazidi minority, publishing nine books in English, Arabic and Kurdish over four decades. His work sought to present an authentic, more accurate image of the Yazidis and dispel prevalent stereotypes on the minority. His library contained valuable and rare texts on the Yazidis that he had accumulated over his long career, including his own works.

"I have devoted my entire life to describing the Yazidis and explaining that they are a peaceful people who follow a nonproselytizing religion; that they do not represent any danger to any other element of society; and that they want nothing but to coexist peacefully with others in their country, Iraq," Suleiman told Al-Monitor by phone. "I have faced serious difficulties over four decades of scholarly research. Some previous Iraqi governments banned the publication of my works, forcing me to stop writing in Arabic and move to Kurdish and English. In the end, I see that all of these efforts were not important. If the pen cannot leave a positive mark on our social environment, then it is better for these books and publications, which were unable to do what they were intended to do, be burnt."

Suleiman described his message as follows: “It is a religious message aimed at the extremist conflicts that have justified violence toward us for centuries. It is a social message to a hostile environment that has refused to coexist with us, and a political message to the local governments in Iraq and the great powers, which have failed to defend us, though we are in danger of being totally eliminated from our lands.”