Our Editorial Standards
Ay & Taiyō writes from a Yazidi perspective. We do not owe readers a neutral-sounding voice. We do owe them a clear distinction between what a source establishes, what tradition teaches and what an author argues.
A position is not a source
A column can take a side. Dates, quotations, statistics and claims about another person still need evidence. An academic title, a government document or a widely repeated account does not settle an argument on its own. The question is what it actually supports.
Keep the kinds of knowledge distinct
- Documented fact: identify the evidence and its limits.
- Religious tradition: say when an account expresses belief or sacred teaching.
- Oral testimony: identify the speaker, context and date when permission allows; make clear when an account is local or personal.
- Personal experience: only the person who lived it can claim it.
- Opinion and political judgement: make the author’s argument recognisable as an argument.
Texts, translations and names
A Qewl translation needs an identifiable text or recording, a named translator and the relevant passage. A summary must not pass itself off as a translation. A name’s meaning needs evidence; resemblance to another word is not enough.
Our house spelling is Ezdikî. We use Yazidi and Ezidî as the context requires, and write Tawûs-î-Melek. Source titles and direct quotations retain their original wording when accuracy requires it.
People before a convenient story
We present Ezidî as a distinct ethnoreligious community. We do not treat endogamy as shorthand for backwardness. Nor do we reduce Yazidi life to suffering, mystery or someone else’s national project. Geographic descriptions should name the place and, where relevant, the administrative or disputed context.
What belongs in a source note
For a book: author, full title, edition or year and relevant pages. For a recording: speaker or performer, title, date, location where known and timestamp. For a report: issuing body, title, date and the page or section supporting the claim. A link is useful; an unexplained list of links is not a substitute for evidence.
Corrections
Send the article URL, the exact passage and your evidence to contact@aytaiyo.store. Substantive corrections should explain what changed and why. Disagreement with a column is welcome; it does not automatically make its position a factual error.
These are the standards for developing this archive. Their publication is not a claim that every older article has completed a fresh source review.