Kurds, Yezidis in Armenia and Turkey debate identity

Kurds, Yezidis in Armenia and Turkey debate identity

Friday, August 13, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

YEREVAN - Hürriyet Daily News

In a battle over political identity, Kurds and Yezidis in Armenia have become engaged in a discursive debate over the two groups’ relationship to each other. Some Kurds argue Yezidizm is a religion and that Yezidis are a branch of the Kurds; some Yezidis agree with this definition, but others claim they form a different nation. The chief editors of Kurdish and Yezidi newspapers in Armenia, as well as a Yezidi in Turkey evaluated the situation for the Daily News


In a debate over taxonomy largely rooted in identity politics between state and society, Kurds and Yezidis in Armenia are increasingly struggling over definitions of their communal boundaries.

There are many Kurds in the country where religious Yezidism is practiced and where Yezidis are a Kurdish people. While many Yezidis tolerate this situation, others do not, arguing the Yezidis constitute a people separate from the Kurds.

Complicating the debate, the Yezidi community in Turkey, which numbers about 400, define themselves as Kurds.

“If you ask me what my religion is, I would tell you that I am a Yezidi but I am Kurdish,” said Grişae Meme-Chatoian, chief editor of the Kurdish-language R'ya T'eze newspaper, which has been published in Yerevan since 1930.

Yezidism, moreover, is the oldest religious belief for Kurds, according the Meme-Chatoian, who added that the notion of separate Kurdish and Yezidi communities stemmed from USSR-era policies that sought to create a conflict between the two groups.

Yezidi is the most common term applied to the community in English, although members of the group refer to themselves as “Ezidi” in Kurdish since they believe Yezidi or “Yazidi” carries with it pejorative notions of devil-worship.

“Unlike the Kurds in Turkey, we are living in extremely comfortable conditions in Armenia,” he said. “Our only problem is the separation on the matter of Kurds and Yezidis. Armenian historians have a great responsibility in [discussing] this.”

‘Yezidis are separate people’

Kheder Hajoian, chief editor for the monthly Yezidixhana, which is published in a dialect of Kurdish used by Yezidis, disagreed with Meme-Chatoian, saying Yezidis constitute a separate people.

“The Kurds are trying to assimilate us. Yezidism is not a religion; it is a nation,” he said.

“The reason Kurds are making noise wherever they are is them wanting a country [for themselves] – that is the whole reason,” he said. “They want to make their population look larger that it is. They are trying to claim Yezidism because they do not have a history or culture, but it is a futile attempt.”

According to an Armenian population census from Feb. 21, 2001, the country is home to roughly 40,000 Yezidis and approximately 1,500 Kurds. Together, the two groups generally live in 25 villages or in the country’s major population centers.

‘Yezidis in Turkey perceive themselves as Kurds’

Journalist Eyüp Burç, a Yezidi from a large clan centered in a village in the Viranşehir district of the Southeast Anatolian province of Şanlıurfa, with members in Armenia as well, said he was following the debates in Armenia closely.

Agreeing with Meme-Chatoian, he blamed Armenia for the debate over communal boundaries.

“The concept of a Yezidi nation was brought forward to divide the Kurds. That is why a great conflict is being experienced,” he said.

Yezidism is among the oldest belief systems of the Kurds, he said, adding that most of the Kurds who believe Yezidism is a religion reside in Iraq, where a similar discussion over self-definitions of identity were also occurring in Mosul.

“Yezidis are considered Arab in population records. The basic goal here is to portray the population of the Kurds as being as low as possible,” Burç said.

‘I did not believe in the Kurdish initiative’

Meme-Chatoian said he is closely following the developments on Kurds in Turkey, but added that he never believed in the Kurdish initiative brought to the agenda last year by the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP. Moreover, he said, broadcasting by TRT Şeş, the state-owned Kurdish-language TV channel was insufficient.

Instead, many Kurds living in eastern Turkey listen to Kurdish radio coming from Armenia, Meme-Chatoian said.