In 1892, the Ottoman official Omar Wehbi Pasha led a military campaign against the Yazidis of the Sheikhan and Sinjar (Shingal) districts, issuing an ultimatum demanding conversion to Islam. When the Yazidis refused, Ottoman forces occupied Sinjar and Sheikhan and carried out a further massacre, killing around 500 people in the Shingal campaign of November to December 1892. Lalish, the Yazidis' central shrine, was forcibly converted into an Islamic religious school, sacred objects were confiscated, mosques were built in Yazidi villages, and the Yazidi prince Mir Mirza Beg was pressured into converting to Islam. Sultan Abdulhamid II dismissed Wehbi Pasha from his post by telegram on 9 December 1892, citing his use of Ottoman troops in combat without authorization from the Ministry of War, pending an inquiry. The Yazidis did not regain possession of Lalish until 1904, and their confiscated sacred objects were not returned until 1914.
Facts
Consequences
What It SettledSourced to the subject's own accountWehbi Pasha was dismissed by Sultan Abdulhamid II on 9 December 1892 and ordered to remain in Mosul pending an inquiry into his unauthorized use of troops. The occupation of Lalish as an Islamic religious school persisted for over a decade regardless: the Yazidis did not regain possession of their central shrine until 1904, twelve years later, and the sacred objects confiscated from it were not returned until 1914, twenty two years later, by Suleiman Nazif Pasha. The episode sits within a wider nineteenth century pattern of Ottoman-era firmans and campaigns against the Yazidis that includes the much larger 1832 to 1834 Soran Emirate genocide. 1 Death TollSourced to the subject's own accountThe one figure the source consulted gives: around 500 Yazidis died in the Shingal (Sinjar) campaign of November to December 1892. Recorded as a firm attested figure rather than a debated range because no second estimate was found anywhere in this census; unlike the atlas's other Ottoman-era Yazidi entities, no wider range of historian estimates exists to preserve. Death TollSourced to the subject's own accountThe same single reported figure as death-toll-min; not a range, one number offered by the one source this census located with a citable figure for this specific campaign. Religious DimensionSourced to the subject's own accountA forced conversion campaign: Yazidis were given an ultimatum to convert to Islam, Lalish was turned into an Islamic school, sacred objects were seized and mosques were built in Yazidi villages. 1 The Event
When It HappenedSourced to the subject's own account1892, with the Shingal (Sinjar) military campaign concentrated in November and December 1892 and Wehbi Pasha's dismissal on 9 December 1892; Lalish was not regained by the Yazidis until 1904 and its confiscated sacred objects not returned until 1914. 1 PeriodSourced to the subject's own account Principal PartiesSourced to the subject's own accountOmar Wehbi Pasha, the Ottoman official who led the campaign and issued the conversion ultimatum. Mir Mirza Beg, the Yazidi prince pressured into converting to Islam under the campaign's duress. Sultan Abdulhamid II, who dismissed Wehbi Pasha by telegram on 9 December 1892. 1 Victim GroupSourced to the subject's own accountThe Yazidi communities of the Sheikhan and Sinjar (Shingal) districts of what is now northern Iraq, and the Yazidi religious leadership at Lalish specifically. 1 Perpetrator RegimeSourced to the subject's own accountOmar Wehbi Pasha, an official dispatched from Istanbul, acting with Ottoman military forces under his command; the Sultan formally dismissed him within days of the campaign's conclusion for exceeding his military authorization, indicating the campaign's violence went beyond what Istanbul had sanctioned even as its underlying conversion ultimatum stood. This is a state-directed persecution rather than a rival-tradition one; no perpetrator-tradition edge is written. 1 Status
Official RecognitionSourced to the subject's own accountNot formally recognized by any body 1 Recognition BasisSourced to the subject's own accountNo government or international judicial body has issued a formal determination on this specific 1892 campaign, distinct from and much smaller in scale than the 2014 Yazidi Genocide the same community would suffer at ISIS's hands over a century later. It is documented in Yazidi communal memory and in the standard reference historiography of the community, which situates it within a recurring nineteenth century pattern of Ottoman-era violence against the Yazidis. 1 Learn More
Omar Wehbi Pasha's Ultimatum and the Occupation of Lalish
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
In 1892 the Ottoman official Omar Wehbi Pasha led a military campaign against the Yazidis of the Sheikhan and Sinjar districts, issuing an ultimatum demanding conversion to Islam. When the Yazidis refused, Ottoman forces occupied Sinjar and Sheikhan and carried out a further massacre, killing around five hundred people in the Shingal campaign of November and December 1892. Lalish, the Yazidis' central shrine, was forcibly converted into an Islamic religious school, sacred objects were confiscated, mosques were built in Yazidi villages, and the Yazidi prince Mir Mirza Beg was pressured into converting to Islam.
Sultan Abdulhamid II dismissed Wehbi Pasha from his post by telegram on 9 December 1892, citing his use of Ottoman troops in combat without authorization from the Ministry of War, and ordered him to remain in Mosul pending an inquiry. The dismissal did not undo what the campaign had accomplished: the Yazidis did not regain possession of Lalish until 1904, twelve years later, and their confiscated sacred objects were not returned until 1914, twenty two years later, by Suleiman Nazif Pasha.
One Campaign in a Recurring Nineteenth Century Pattern
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
No government or international judicial body has issued a formal determination on this specific 1892 campaign, distinct from and much smaller in scale than the 2014 Yazidi genocide the same community would suffer at the Islamic State's hands over a century later. It is documented instead in Yazidi communal memory and in the standard reference historiography of the community, which situates it within a recurring nineteenth century pattern of Ottoman-era violence against the Yazidis that includes the much larger 1832 to 1834 Soran Emirate genocide.
The Sultan's own dismissal of Wehbi Pasha within days of the campaign's conclusion, for exceeding his military authorization, indicates that the campaign's violence went beyond what Istanbul had formally sanctioned even as the underlying conversion ultimatum against the Yazidis of Sheikhan and Sinjar stood unchallenged from the center. That distinction, a subordinate official disciplined for how he acted rather than for what he was sent to accomplish, is itself part of the documented record of the episode, and this atlas states it rather than the more familiar frame of a single central decision either fully authorized or fully rogue.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Iraq, Countries Took place in the Sheikhan and Sinjar districts of what is now northern Iraq.
Yazidism, Religions The Yazidi religious community of Sheikhan and Sinjar, and its central shrine of Lalish specifically, was the campaign's target throughout.
Sources
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