Interview with Vladimir Chadoyev
Interview conducted by Onnik Krikorian, June 1998

Vladimir Chadoyev is the Chairman of the Union of National Minorities in Armenia.

OK: Can you tell me a little about yourself and the Union of National Minorities?

VC: The Union of National Minorities was founded in December 1994. I was the initiator. I am a member of the Union of Journalists of Armenia. I graduated from the Teacher Training Institute in 1956, and after that I graduated from the Institute of National Economy. I worked as a journalist and held a number of key positions in this area, including head of the Union of Journalists and principle of the House of Journalists.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, each nation started to look for its roots, and the progressive minded people amongst the nations and amongst the minorities started to try to raise the awareness of their nation, culture, traditions and language. Different groups of nations were founded.

In general, in times of emergency, national unions and religious associations tend to unite as a rule. It was a very hard time for Armenia. After the earthquake the war in Karabagh started, there was blockade, no electricity, and a severe winter. There was uncertainty and it was very difficult for people to cope with the extraordinary situation, but we struggled by means of survival in the existing structures. I am thankful to God for having the idea to set up a Union of National Minorities.

In those days there were a number of minor groups of nationalities, and seven wished to unite. ODA (Organisation of the Friends of Armenia), Greeks, Assyrians, Jews, Germans, the Cultural Association of Russians (Harmony), Ukranian Association, and we managed within the framework of our organisation to unite Yezidi and Kurds as well. We signed a declaration. In it we announced the strategies and tendancies of development.

The activities of the National Union of Minorities are mainly directed towards solving cultural problems, and developing the traditions and languages of minorities, helping them to preserve such traditions and religion, strengthening the feelings of friendship between different minorities as well as among other NGOs. This Union was legally registered with the Ministry of Justice, so we followed the legal proceedure.

I caught your glance at the photograph on the wall. This is my mother. She died in 1941. Her mother comes from the Toumanian family. Two different bloods are flowing in my veins. That of a Kurd - Chadoyev - and that of an Armenian - Toumanian. My wife is an Armenian.

I would like to state that Armenia has been, and will continue to be, a country where representatives of different nationalities will live in peace, in harmony and in friendship with the Armenian people.

OK: You said that you had a Kurdish blood and Armenian blood. When you say Kurdish, do you mean Kurdish or Yezidi-Kurdish blood?

VC: There are Moslem Kurds, and there are Kurd-Yezidis. Yezidi is a religion, which means that Yezidi are worshiping the sun. I have been christened in an Armenian Church. In terms of Yezidi, Kurd- Yezidi and Moslem Kurds, I want to express my own opinion. I have said, and will continue to say, the following. If you think that your religion is prior to your national roots and you want to be called Yezidi, we will call you Yezidi. If you want to be called Kurd- Yezidi, we will call you Kurd-Yezidi. If you want to be called Moslem Kurd we will call you Moslem Kurd. But you live in the Republic of Armenia and you are a citizen of that country, and you should avoid creating problems for the government of Armenia.

I have heard the opinion of many scientists dealing with Kurdish issues like Garnik Asatrian and Amarik Sardarian, but I do not agree with them. I have my own opinion on this matter. The reason for this disagreement in my own opinion is that I am the Chairman of the Union of National Minorities, and I think that being the Chairman that each nation is free to have its own understanding of its origins and roots, and to have the freedom of choice regarding what it is called.

OK: That is one of the declarations of human rights.

VC: That is what I said during the conference commerating the 50th anniversary of the declaration of human rights. Owing to this approach it is the fifth year that I have been elected the Chairman of this union, and I am managing it very well. My attitude should not be interperated as that of a man who has no principles, and who is very soft and mild. I think it is difficult to deal with people that belong to one nation, and actually I am dealing with hundreds of thousands of different people coming from different national backgrounds, and I manage all those issues and problems very well because of this attitude. We don't have to fight with each other to share something. We can live in peace and harmony, and great friendship with each other.

I think that both governmental figures and political leaders should have the same attitude, and should avoid using the nationalist feelings of the people in order to pursue some special interest and political issues.

I was invited to a conference of Kurdish intelligentsia in Moscow, and I started my presentation there with the opening words that I was proud to be a Kurd. This is what I think. The United States has gone far here. What is important is that everyone should be free to choose their national identity, religion and belief, and no-one has the right to dictate that everone should believe in their god or language.

There are people even on the official level that declare that Armenia is a mono-ethnic country. My union and myself do not share this opinion. It is not important how many nations live in a country, it is important to consider how these nations feel in this country. Lets make an excursion into history. At the beginning of the century the genocide was organised by the Turks against the Armenian nation. I say this not as propoganda, it is proved by facts. The genocide happened, and the Armenian nation managed to overcome this horrible page in its history - it looked to its future. The Armenian nation didn't become rigid and hateful to those nations that raise their voice of protest towards this event. it didn't assume the role of a country offended. The Armenian nation managed to find strength in its historical roots to create an independent country for its citizens that are not only Armenians, but also its minorities.

Beneficial conditions have been created in Armenia for the development and prosperity of minorities. It is no secret that the Kurds in Armenia have reached a level of prosperity that they do not have in any other country in the whole world. The Kurds have a department in the Academy, Kurdish studies in the universities, writers, poets, musicians, academics, newspapersm textbooks and literature. I want to illustrate this further with the example of my father.

During the genocide my father's family fled from Turkey to Armenia. It was a family of shephards, with no wealth - simple common shephards. They came to Armenia and settled in Alagyaz, and life was very hard in the mountains. My father's family moved to Yerevan and my father entered a college, learnt to read and after graduation was sent to Leningrad to study in the Institute of Eastern Studies. After returning to Armenia, he started his career working in a village before becoming a member of the Communist Party. He was working and continued his education in another institute, and when the second world war started he was conscripted into the army. After the war he worked as the first secretary of the Communist Party in Alagyaz, and then he as sent to Moscow to study in the Academy of Social Sciences.

After graduation he returned to Yerevan and became the head of the Communist Party in the Talin region. Simultaneously he undertook scientific research, and from 1954 he worked in the National Academy of Sciences. Up until 1990 he was head of the Department of Kurdish Studies in the Academy, and has had a number of monographs published on Kurdish issues, Armenian-Kurdish friendship, and the participation of Kurds in the war. He died last year at the age of 84, and until the last day of his life he was a member and worked in the Academy, and on the last day of his life he said "Armenia is my motherland". Of course, he was also welcoming the Kurdish revolution movement in Turkey, and the struggle to establish a statehood.

The Kurds today are fighting to re-establish their independent statehood in the territory of Turkey under the leadership of Abdullah Ocalan, so we are fighting against a common enemy. The enemy is Turkey. It organised a genocide not only against Armenians, but also against Kurds, Bulgarians, Greeks, Assyrians and many other national minorities. What I have said so far is my personal opinion, and not the policy of my union, but I am a member of the Armenian- Kurdish friendship Union that has existed for one year already.

I am also a member of the Council of Kurdish Intelligentsia, and the activities are mainly concentrating on culture, tradition and the development of national language. The first thing we did was to send a letter, a declaration, to the head of the national union of minorities in Azerbaijan, calling on them to unite with the minorities of Armenia in order to facilitate a union to mediate in favour of Karabagh. Of course, we understand that the Karabagh problem will be solved on other higher levels, but we could not remain indifferent to this issue.

OK: With regards to the position of the Yezidi and other minorities in Armenia, Aziz Tamoyan states that there is not a feeling of being legally protected within the republic. What would your response be to this?

VC: When I said that beneficial conditions had been created for national minorities, any representative of any minority or community is free to hold meetings, establish associations, open their national schools, publish their newspapers, and to hold cultural festivals. Doesn't this show that there are benficial conditions?

OK: Of course, but Aziz Tamoyan alleges that there are rapes and murders of Yezidi in Armenia, and that he does not feel as though the a legal infrastructure exists for the protection of minorities.

VC: I exclude any possibility of murder, rape, and robbery on the basis of national identity. The problems of minorities are the same as the problems of the Armenian nation. There are crimes everywhere, and the reasons for this are the lack of work, the harsh economic situation, and so on and so forth. It is the same for everybody. At present, Aziz Tamoyan is the head of the Yezidi in Armenia. Did he tell you that the Yezidi have special programme on the radio? Do you know that Yezidi are organising their national cultural festivals?

Aziz Tamoyan's attitude towards me is very negative. Why? I am able to listen to Aziz Tamoyan, but Aziz Tamoyan does not have the ability to listen to me. Aziz Tamoyan has the right to say what he thinks, and as a journalist you have the right to go wherever you want and interview anyone you like, and listen to whatever they say. It is not honest to slander a country, or the policies directed towards national minorities, when your minority has the freedom to develop and prosper. In Turkey,if Kurds speak Kurdish they are killed, or tortured.

Yesterday I went to Talin where a branch of the Armenian-Kurdish union was founded. A co-ordinatng committee was established of both Armenians and Kurds. Afterwards a gala concert was held where both Armenian and Kurdish dancers and musicians presented their culture.

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