Below are two letters written by the FEZANA Executive to the US President Barack Obama and to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, in support of their efforts to safeguard the minorities being oppressed and attacked by the ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
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August 11, 2014
President Barack H. Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington D.C. 20500
Mr. President Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) is the umbrella organization of 26 Zoroastrian associations that are representative of the community in the United States and Canada. FEZANA commends you for the emergency measures you have initiated to protect the besieged Yazidi community of Iraq from the depredations of the extremist ISIS group. The Yazidis, a sub-group of Iraq’s ethnic Kurds, are an often misunderstood and oppressed minority centered in that country’s Kurdistan region. They are estimated to number about 300,000, with virtually all of that population concentrated in Northern Iraq, though with increasing out-migration under pressure of modernity and persecution, including to parts of Western Europe. They practice a syncretistic and exceedingly private faith that is passed down mainly through oral traditions. Experts who have studied the Yazidi faith have detected in it elements that Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians might find familiar, though it is distinctive in its own right and its adherents deserve to be accorded the same respect and dignity as those of any faith. According to numerous news accounts, traditionally violence directed at Yazidis is motivated purely by intolerance of the way they worship god, and thus is genocidal in nature. We Zoroastrians, ourselves a tiny and fragile minority, strongly condemn it. We fully support the U.N. initiative to alleviate the suffering of the Yazidis and stand ready to help as needed. Signed,
Mrs. Katayun Kapadia President, FEZANA (For more information about FEZANA and Zoroastrianism, please go to www.FEZANA.org) |
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August 11, 2014 Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon United Nations Headquarters 1 United Nations Plaza New York, N.Y. 10017, USA Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) is the umbrella organization of 26 Zoroastrian associations that are representative of the community in the United States and Canada. FEZANA is also a Faith-based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) registered with the Department of Public Information (DPI) of the United Nations (UN). FEZANA commends your deep concern about the reports of attacks by the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) on the vulnerable communities of Christians, Turkomen, and Yazidis and calling on the international community, “especially those with the influence and resources” to support the Government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq. The Yazidis, a sub-group of Iraq’s ethnic Kurds, are an often misunderstood and oppressed minority centered in that country’s Kurdistan region. They are estimated to number about 300,000, with virtually all of that population concentrated in Northern Iraq, though with increasing out-migration under pressure of modernity and persecution, including to parts of Western Europe. They practice a syncretistic and exceedingly private faith that is passed down mainly through oral traditions. Experts who have studied the Yazidi faith have detected in it elements that Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians might find familiar, though it is distinctive in its own right and its adherents deserve to be accorded the same respect and dignity as those of any faith. According to numerous news accounts, traditionally violence directed at Yazidis is motivated purely by intolerance of the way they worship god, and thus is genocidal in nature. We Zoroastrians, ourselves a tiny and fragile minority, strongly condemn it and fully support the U.N. initiative to alleviate the suffering of the Yazidis and stand ready to help as needed. Signed, |
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Mrs. Katayun Kapadia President, FEZANA |
Mr. Homi D. Gandhi Vice-President, FEZANA and FEZANA NGO’s Main Representative to the UN DPI |
