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Interview with Garnik Asatrian OK: I would agree with you with regards to certain "fact-finding" missions, and there is no doubt that the best report on human rights violations in a specific country is one that simply states that there are no problems. However, there are reports and allegations that have to be looked into. For example, that there is an attempt to redefine the identity of those Yezidi that consider themselves to be Kurdish. GA: I have to specify a very important point. When you say that some of them are of Kurdish origin, or not of Kurdish origin, you have to specify the notion of "Kurd". The term "Kurd" only goes back to the first decades of the 20th century as a common denomination of a nation. We can not speak of Kurds and Kurdish people - it is wrong, quite wrong. It was only developed in the political circles of Germany and England. For example the Kurmanji of Western Armenia, or as they say, Turkish Kurdistan, are Kurmanjis - they have not a genuine Kurdish identity. When you visit a Kurdish village in say, Erzerum, and you ask if they are Kurd, they answer with a tribal identity, not a national identity.
OK: There is a tribal identity, I agree, but I travelled in south east Turkey last year, around Diyarbakir, Elazig and Bingol, and there did seem to be a splintering of the Kurdish groups. However, they all considered themselves to be Kurdish. Even those that were pro-Turkish said that they spoke Kurdish, not Kurmanji. I know it is the same language, but they used the term "Kurdish", and as an Iranian Armenian you will have an opposing opinion on this, but they all considered Newroz to be a Kurdish festival, whether they supported the Kurdish movement or not. GA: Of course, it was an exaggeration, but through the radio, the mass media, they can now identify themselves as Kurds. The question of national identity is dependent on future national development, and this also applies to the Yezidi. Some Yezidi consider themselves Kurdish exclusively because of the fact that to belong to a nation fighting for its independence is more attractive. That is why some Yezidi intellectuals consider themselves Kurds. You can not talk about a unified Kurdish nation, but you can at least talk about Kurdish people. You can not consider the Kurds of Iran and compare them with the Kurmanjis. They are quite a different people - they can not even understand each other. They have quite a different confessional attitude. Ethnically and linguistically they are quite different although they are also called Kurd. Yezidis are a small ethno-confessional group, Kurdish speaking. "Ethno-confessional group" - this is the right term for applying to the Yezidis. But you are going to publish this?
OK: I have been commissioned to write a report on the situation of minorites within the Republic of Armenia, with a focus on the largest minority - the Yezidi. As part of this I have to examine and investigate accusations and allegations of human rights violations, although as I have stated the best report I could hope to write is that there are no human rights violations at all. GA: You are not a "fact-finding" person?
OK: I am not a "fact-finding" person, although facts are very important. Without facts you can not substantiate, and at the same time another journalist is in Azerbaijan undertaking similar research to see if the governments of the caucasus region are living up to their international treaty obligations. GA: In Azerbaijan you can find lots of facts.
OK: So, "fact-finding" is okay in Azerbaijan? GA: Nothing is okay, but you will find lots of facts. For example, in Azerbaijan in the first decades of Soviet power there were 45,000 Kurds, but now you can not find any Kurds in Azerbaijan. This is the great fact. The Azerbaijani Government does not count its minorities - everyone is considered Azerbaijani.
OK: One problem that all of the Yezidi on both sides have pointed out is that they do not have any representation in Parliament. GA: Since the formation of the new Armenian Government I have written articles insisting that every minority has representatives in the Armenian Parliament relative to their population. We are passing a new law concerning parliamentary elections, and in our projects that we have, all minorities in Armenia will have a representative in the Armenian Parliament. It will be wonderful, and it is so far the greatest shortcoming that we have with regards to the national minorities in Armenia. I agree with you, it is important, and I think we will overcome this difficulty.
OK: Kocharian has already placed great importance on the situation of minorities within Armenia, and I presume from what you have said so far that there are no problems whatsoever. GA: Of course, it is not true to categorically state that there are no problems concerning minorities.There are some local incidents in villages, in mixed-populations, but they do not have national connotations. The first problem is that of representation in Parliament, and the regime of Ter Petrossian was a criminal regime. It was based upon banditry and acquiring money. I am not speaking as a Dashnak, I am speaking as an Armenian. The next problem concerns schools, but it is very difficult because the Yezidi language is not a language of literature. It is technically impossible to teach all disciplines in the Yezidi language, in Kurmanji. Even in Persian it is very difficult, because these languages do not have a long-standing academic tradition. If the Yezidi or the Kurds make their country they can achieve this step by step, maybe in fifty years, but probably it will take a century until Yezidi schools and universities can teach all disciplines in their own language.
OK: Am I right in thinking that individuals such as Aziz Tamoyan has initiated the re-adoption of a unique Yezidi alphabet? GA: During the first years of Soviet power, the Yezidi used the Armenian alphabet, but then adopted cyrillic, until even now. Some Yezidi claim that there is an ancient Yezidi alphabet, but it is an ambitious statement. They had cryptograms for Yezidi sacred books. END
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