Yezidi/Kurds in Armenia

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Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 10:58:01 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Yezidi/Kurds in Armenia

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Onnik Krikorian <[email protected]>

Yezidi/Kurds in Armenia


The Yezidi Community In Armenia
 
Introduction by Onnik Krikorian
 
While national minorities in Armenia have enjoyed relative freedom
since independence, it can not be said that problems do not exist.
Along with the majority of the population, minorities are unprotected
under the Armenian legal system, and inadequately represented in the
mechanisms of Government. Because of the concentration of Government
policy on the conflict in Nagorno Karabagh and the economic problems
that face the republic, minorities have largely been overlooked and
ignored in the development of the country. The largest national
minority in Armenia � the Yezidi � have been particularly affected,
and excluded from any policy looking to promote national and ethnic
cohesion and identity. This paper seeks to address the most severe
problem that faces the Yezidi community in Armenia � the division that
stems from an artificially created debate as to ethnic origin.
 
Outside of Armenia, the Yezidi are adamant in the declaration of their
Kurdish identity, and declare that before the forced Islamisation of
the Kurds, all Kurds were Yezidi by religion - a combination of
Zoroastrian, Christian and Islamic beliefs. However, in the Republic
of Armenia, the Yezidi are divided into two groups - those Yezidi that
consider themselves Kurd, and those that consider themselves Yezidi as
a separate ethnic identity. Much of the reason for this division can
be seen in the origins of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
over Nagorno Karabagh. With the outbreak of conflict between Armenia
and Azerbaijan over the disputed enclave Nagorno Karabagh, ethnic
tension saw the expulsion and migration of approximately 300,000
Armenians from the Republic of Azerbaijan and 211,000 Azerbaijanis
from the Republic of Armenia (figures courtesy of the Human Rights
Centre of Azerbaijan). This migration of Moslem Azerbaijanis also
affected Armenia's indigenous Kurdish population. Many of the Moslem
Kurds living within Armenia were not only living in villages inhabited
by Azerbaijanis, but many had also married Azerbaijanis. When an
estimated 200,000 Azerbaijanis left Armenia so too did approximately
11,000 Moslem Kurds. The Yezidi Kurds that remain number in the region
of 50,000.
 
With the recent arrest of Abdullah Ocalan � President of the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) � a split has manifested itself in the form of a
more radical political force that has taken to radical action.  In
Yerevan, the United Nations Building in Yerevan was stormed and two
United Nations employees held hostage, and hunger strikes were staged
in support of the Kurdish National Liberation Movement. Politically,
both sides have now become more polarised and the division has become
wider. Research in June 1998 identified this division and the need for
closer examination of the situation within the community, but
information on the size of the division is unobtainable. Vladimir
Chadoyev, Chairman of the National Union of Minorities, pointed out
the need for a census to clarify the situation.
 
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that every nation
has the right to choose its own identity - and whatever the situation
external to Armenia - the Yezidi Community in the republic must be
free to resolve this issue themselves � away from the interference of
Armenian and Kurdish political forces. This conclusion demands the
implementation of some form of census that can clarify the extent of
this division in order to monitor and prevent the further fracturing
of a community that may adversely affect its future development as an
integral part of an independent and democratic Armenia.
------------------
............

For Kurdish Nationalism In Armenia, analysis by Onnik Krikorian (Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline, 6 January 1999) see MINELRES
posting of 9 January 1999 at
http://racoon.riga.lv/minelres/archive/01091999-14:39:29-19401.html
------------------


Onnik Krikorian has specialised in the Kurdish issue for five years
and is a contributing photographer for Panos Pictures on the Kurds in
Turkey and Armenia, in addition to general work on Armenia and Nagorno
Karabagh. He has written analysis on the Kurdish issue for Middle East
Insight, Rfe/Rl Newsline, New Internationalist, Kurdistan Report,
American Kurdish Information Network, One World Online, and the
Armenian News Network.

Photographs of the Kurds in Turkey and Armenia have been published in
Middle East Insight, New Internationalist, Armenian Forum, Kurdistan
Report, The Scotsman on Saturday and The Journalist magazines.
 
Work on the Kurds and the Yezidi are available online at site:
www.freespeech.org/oneworld/photo/

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