Shamiram, Aragotsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

As a matter of interest, and especially for me as I recently returned from Tbilisi where I made contact with the Yezidi there, a film crew from from Georgia was recording the event. There was also a rather nice Yezidi girl, originally from Armenia, who’s researching her community for a PhD at Tbilisi State University as well as a Yezidi Pir from Georgia.

ONNIK KRIKORIAN: You’re a Yezidi Pir from Tbilisi. Where you born in Georgia?

PIR DIMA: Yes.

OK: Is this your first time in Armenia or do you come many times?

PD: It’s not my first time.

OK: Is your family originally from Armenia?

PD: They all came from Turkey, and some moved to Armenia while others moved to Georgia.

OK: Why are you here today?

PD: It’s not just about this festival. I am travelling with a film crew [from Georgia] and I came with them.

OK: I was in Tbilisi last week and there appears to be no problem there with regards to the question of Kurdish identity there. However, there’s a division in Armenia. What’s your opinion of this?

PD: There are problems in Georgia as well, but we [the Kurds] are one nation. It’s just that our religion is different. However, the problem is nowhere near as serious as it is in Armenia. On the other hand, you have to realize that the Yezidi community in Georgia is smaller than in Armenia.

It’s also not the fault of Yezidi here. Sometimes they don’t want people [Armenians] to know their nationality [Kurdish], but it’s not their fault. Also, there’s the problem that Moslem Kurds have killed Yezidis [as well as Armenians] so there’s that reason as well.

Shamiram, Aragotsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

Yet, there are still those who say that the Yezidi don’t value education. It’s also worth noting that as with many other schools in Yezidi villages, schoolbooks funded by UNICEF are not being accepted as suitable for teaching. The reason for this can be found in the division of Yezidi in Armenia regarding identity and the ratification of both Ezidiki and Kurdish by the Armenian Government under the European Charter for Minority Languages.

And it is language that might prove to be the most vexing problem facing the community in Armenia. According to Hranush Kharatyan, head of the government’s department for national minorities and religious affairs, so significant is the issue that it is now “the most actual problem existing among national minorities in Armenia.”

When the Armenian government considered ratifying Kurmanji as the name for the language spoken by the Yezidis and Kurds, for example, emotions ran high and Kharatyan says she was accused and threatened by both sides. In particular, she says, Yezidi spiritual leaders demanded that their language instead be classified as “Yezidi” even if in private they acknowledge that it is Kurmanji.

In reality, the two are the same Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish, but for some reason the Armenian Government has chosen to side with Aziz Tamoyan, self-professed President of the Yezidi worldwide although few Yezidi in Armenia, and absolutely none outside the Republic, acknowledge him as such.

OK: Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to hold this interview. Could you please start by introducing yourself.

AT: This is my certificate. It is the ninth month that I am considered to be the President of Yezidi all over the world. I was elected President of the yezidi abroad, and my organisation is
registered in Armenia in the Ministry of Justice.

OK: Why Armenia? Given that the spiritual centre for the Yezidi is in Iraq, why is the President of the Yezidi throughout the world based in a small Republic in the Caucasus?

AT: When I was elected the President, because I was a citizen of Armenia the centre had to be registered in the country where I hold my citizenship. If I were a citizen of Iraq then the centre would be there.

According to those I’ve spoken to here, whereas in 1998 Tamoyan said the Yezidi were originally from India, he’s now apparently trying to sell the line that they are in fact Arabs. Everywhere else in the world, including in the neighbouring Republic of Georgia, accepts the Yezidi as non-Moslem ethnic Kurds, as Philip Kreyenbroek explains.

“The Yezidi religious and cultural tradition is deeply rooted in Kurdish culture and almost all Yezidi sacred texts are in Kurdish,” he says. “The language all Yezidi communities have in common is Kurdish and most consider themselves to be Kurds, although often with some reservations.”

Incidently, as I mentioned earlier, there were some PKK activists — including Moslem Kurds from Turkey — in attendance as well. Anyway, more photos later, but until then, my full series of interviews on the question of Yezidi identity in Armenia can be found here.

Shamiram, Aragotsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006