Center for Peace and Human Security Holds a Seminar with Dr. Thomas Schmidinger

On April 3, the Center for Peace and Human Security (CPHS) at the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) hosted a seminar featuring the Austrian political scientist and author Dr. Thomas Schmidinger. His talk, “The Complexity of Conflicts in Shingal after the Islamic State,” culminated in interaction with an audience largely composed of AUK International Studies students, and these same students would discuss his points during their next classes. So, the session would involve sufficient student engagement to count as a “seminar,” going beyond an ordinary “lecture.”

Opening the proceedings were AUK student Angel George, emcee, and Dr. Nazar Numan, AUK Provost. Dr. Numan situated the day’s talk within the larger missions of the Center and the University.

Dr. Schmidinger’s talk was essentially chronological. His stated emphasis was on the aftermath of the 2014 genocide of Yazidis perpetrated by ISIS, but he gave meaningful background for it, such as the fallacious view among some of Yazidis as “devil worshippers” and the complicated social structure of Shingal, never exclusively Yazidi and characterized by tribal divisions even among Yazidis. None of the Yazidi groups was strong enough to defeat ISIS without outside assistance, creating competing ties to various external actors and exacerbating factionalism further. October of 2020 brought the Erbil-Baghdad Agreement for power-sharing in Shingal, but local authorities were neglected in its drafting, so it has not yet been implemented in practice. Dr. Schmidinger closed with a snapshot of Yazidis and Shingal as of early 2023: many Yazidis having returned to the north of Shingal, with its south remaining mostly empty; IDPs encamped in the Duhok Governorate; thousands having left Iraq altogether; and the future marked by decided uncertainty.

It was then time for the microphone to travel around the audience, to allow its members to ask Dr. Schmidinger the questions his talk had raised. Dr. Jiyar Aghapouri, CPHS Director, asked about the role of the United States and other international players in creating a final, peaceful resolution to the Shingal impasse. AUK Content Writer Michael Collins and Manager of Institutional Marketing Halmat Kestai both asked about the status of Yazidi refugee communities in Europe. One of the several faculty members of Nawroz University in attendance asked why some European countries offered assistance once a genocide had begun even though they had taken no action after being informed one might be imminent. An AUK student asked about the factors necessary for Yazidi return and reintegration in Shingal; Dr. Schmidinger cited the need to address the scarcity of water and job opportunities, while cautioning that an effective political agreement would be a precondition for such efforts. Another AUK student asked about the general lack of international concern for Shingal nowadays; Dr. Schmidinger stated that the Ukraine crisis has totally seized the spotlight.