Hou many Yezidi’s live in Armenia and Georgia estimate ?

sincereally,

Jamal

It was probably for the best because it is easier to control vacated territories - otherwise it would have been something like the American in Iraq. You don’t want to have pesky rebels behind the front lines. Then you would have to determine whether someone is a genuine civilian or an enemy combatant. Too much PIA.

And it probably would not be a very good idea to recreate the Red Kurdistan, i.e. let the Kurds come back and have their own autonomous territory under Armenian supervision. That would be a sure way to piss off Turkey.

The language issue is very rhetoric, I think. Who is to distinguish languages? Kurdish belongs to the Iranian group, so do many languages spoken in Afghanistan, Pakistan (in fact knowing little Farsi I understand some phrases from many of those languages). So are we to say that Kurds want to have a seperate language, but in fact it is Farsi (which is not)?

As you can see, I am pro-Yezidi lol.

Keep us updated on the interesting subject.

Simon

Everything you say is correct in terms of Yezidis usually falling victim to Moslem Kurds and yes, this is true about the Yezidi during the Genocide. In all my articles I think I refer to this fact. It is also true that many Yezidi dislike being called Kurds for the same reason which is why I always use the term Yezidi even when referring to those Yezidi that do identify with the Kurdish movement.

As for Armenia, no, it’s not the only country. Perhaps its best to quote how I touched upon these points in the most recent article I wrote for Transitions Online.

Although their precise number is unknown, the followers of this small, ancient Middle Eastern Religion are spread throughout Iraq , Syria , Turkey , Georgia , Armenia , and, as recent immigrants and refugees, in Germany . Widely misconceived as “devil worshippers” because they believe that Lucifer is reconciled with the creator, Yezidism in fact combines elements from Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

[…]

Pointing at the hand-made posters stuck on the wall to one side of his cluttered desk, Tamoyan reads aloud the slogan that also serves as the strap line for his newspaper. “My nationality is Yezidi, my language is “Yezideren” and my religion is Sharfadin,” he proclaims, opening a copy of “Yezdikhana” to reveal the results of the last census conducted in Armenia three years ago.

“There are 40,620 Yezidi and 1,519 Kurds living in Armenia ,” he continues. “These are the official figures from the census and this should be all that you need to know. The Yezidi have no connection with the Kurds and there are no Moslem Kurds in Armenia . The 1,519 mentioned are actually Yezidi who became Kurds and, according to the census, nobody speaks Kurdish in Armenia .”

Tamoyan, however, doesn’t seem too interested in the section marked “other” or the fact that few academics outside of the Republic appear to agree with him. Instead, reflecting the deep divide that now exists within the Yezidi community in Armenia , he wants to again emphasize that not only is the very suggestion of any connection with the Kurds absurd, but it is also insulting.

[…]

And as if to illustrate the fact that these reservations have manifested themselves in Armenia as a problem far out of proportion to the size of the community, next door to Tamoyan’s office sits Amarik Sardar, Chairman of the Council of Kurdish Intellectuals. Sardar is also the editor of Riya Taza, established in 1930 and still the oldest surviving Kurdish newspaper in the world.

“Unlike some people that confuse nationality with religion, I recognize the distinction,” he says. “I am Yezidi by religion but also consider myself to be a Kurd. The majority of Kurds in Armenia are also Yezidi but apart from this religious distinction there is no other difference.”

Back next door, Tamoyan reacts angrily. “Nobody has the right to say such things. If we are Kurds, why were 300,000 Yezidi killed along with 1.5 million Armenians during the Genocide [in Ottoman Turkey]? Why did they [the Turks and Kurds] deport us? The Kurds are the enemies of both the Armenians and the Yezidi.”

Indeed, most of Armenia ’s Yezidi minority fled persecution and massacre in Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth century and it is perhaps this shared experience that makes the issue of an albeit non-Moslem Kurdish identity so sensitive in the Republic.

However, it is still considered that the Yezidi are ethnic Kurds. Certainly they speak the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish regardless of attempts to define it as “Ezidiki” in Armenia. That said, there is friction between the Yezidi and Moslem Kurds which is why the PKK are trying to address the issue of religious differences. Remember, the PKK had its origins in the Marxist Leninist movements of the 70s and 80s.

Basically, the Kurds are as much divided by religion as they are by differences in language which are in some cases not understandable by speakers of other dialects — Zaza and Kurmanji in Turkey, for example. Also, because of the sensitivity of this issue I’ve always made every single interview conducted with both sides of the Yezidi community in Armenia available for people to make up their own mind.

http://www.groong.com/orig/yezidi.html

Some Yezidis are very offended to be confused with Kurds, and they deny any connection to the latter whatsoever.

Once I read that an Armenian Yezidi (a Yezidi from Armenia) said that 350,000 Yezidis were also the victims of the Armenian genocide. While I am not really familiar to historical evidence in regard to the numbers, have you encountered more information or thoughts about Yezidis also being victims of the Armenian genocide (while many Kurds were also the perpetrators of the massacres).

And another question (sorry it this may sound stupid). Yezidis are only found in Armenia, correct? In other words, Armenia is the only country that is home to Yezidis?

Thanks

http://www.armeniandiaspora.com/archive/14279.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/world_yezidi_kurds/html/1.stm

It is probably politically incorrect to use the term “Yezidi Kurd” when some Yezidi do not want to be called this for whatever reason right or wrong, and certainly there are nowhere near 200,000 Kurds in Armenia.

There are less than 50,000 Yezidi instead, and I consider using the term “Yezidi Kurd” as much part of the attempt to determine the Yezidi identity as attempts to declare the Yezidi as a separate identity.

The Yezidi are considered ethnic Kurds, but in Armenia more than most other countries, there is an attempt to deny their Kurdish ancestry.

Anyway, I wrote to the BBC correcting these inaccuracies and they said they would change it, but they never did. Amazing they could publish such an incorrect story. The reference to 200,000 Kurds in Armenia is simply astounding.

Of course, the story was done by two Armenians. Perhaps whether the Yezidi should be called Kurds or not is ultimately decided by whoever is paying the piper. However, according to the 2001 census, the vast majority of Yezidi described themselves as such. Only a very small minority identified themselves first as Kurds.