Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, describes himself as protector of religious minorities. Under his watch, the Kurdish government’s official website states, “some of the most vulnerable communities in the Middle East have been sheltered and protected. Erbil, the seat of the Kurdistan Region Parliament is now home to a thriving community of Middle East Christians who have been granted long term refuge from persecution.”

That myth is not the reality Yezidis, Christians and other minorities experience in Iraqi Kurdistan.