Fri 26 February 2010 | 05:35 GMT Text size:

Yazidis, residing in Armenia demand to respect their national belonging and not to identify them as Kurds.

Yazidis, residing in Armenia, have gathered at the residence of the Armenian president with a demand to respect their national belonging and not to identify them as Kurds.

They have also presented a claim to the chancellery department of the Armenian president where they were promised to take in this issue and respond.

According to chairman of the World Yazidis Union, Aziz Tamoian, if there is no response, they will arrange large scale events. The action has involved some 20 Yazidis. Some of them have come from different regions of the country.

They assured that Yazidis appeared in Armenia in the early 20th century and  unlike Kurds there are many Yazidis in Armenia (40,622 Yazidis against 1,500 Kurds). The cause of their resentment was that in different Armenian villages Kurds force them to study Kurdish and say in textbooks that they are all Kurds, not Yazidis.

According to the action participants, this is done for some selfish ends and it all is backed by leader of the Armenian Kurdish Union Knyaz Hasanov "We want the world to know that we are Yazidis, not Kurds. We have always been an ethnically separate nation. We are the Sun worshipers while Kurds are Muslims", Rustam Bakoyan said adding: "If for Kurds Ojalan is a hero, for us he is a mere terrorist because he does not spare even children for his mission".

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