Thursday marked the third anniversary of the ISIS attack on Shingal (also known as Sinjar) in Iraq, which resulted in the beginning of the Yezidi Genocide in 2014. Deputies of the Armenian Parliament visited the Yezidis’ holy place in Aknalich—a village in Armenia’s Armavir province—to pay tribute to the memory of the victims, Panorama reports.
Parliament Member and Yezidi community representative Rustam Makhmudyan mentioned that the Armenian Parliament is inclined to adopt a document concerning the Yezidi Genocide of 2014.
In remembrance of the third anniversary of the genocide, Armenian National Committee of America staff and supporters took part in a candlelight vigil—organized by the Free Yezidi Foundation and the American Ezidi Center—in front of the White House Aug. 3.
“The Yezidis have suffered so much for so long. Today we need the international community to stand with us,” Director of the Free Yezidi Foundation Pari Ibrahim said. “We seek justice, security and a brighter future for our people.”
Ibrahim’s message resonated strongly with the audience, which also included Kurdish and Iraqi Christian community members.
In 2016, the United States House of Representatives voted unanimously to declare that “the atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against Christians, Yezidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.” Similar motions passed unanimously in Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Parliament.
In Armenia, the 40,000-strong Yezidi community—the nation’s largest minority group—is able to thrive by worshipping freely and providing Kurmanci-language education in local public schools. The world’s largest Yezidi temple is currently under construction in the village of Aknalich, 14 km west of Etchmiadzin. Under Armenia’s 2015 constitution, Yezidis are guaranteed representation in Armenia’s National Assembly, along with the next three largest minority groups: the Assyrians, Kurds and Russians.
During the First World War, many Yezidis protected their Armenian neighbors from Ottoman perpetrators, and some were killed for their involvement. On April 21, 2015, a monument was inaugurated in Yerevan to honor those “innocent Yezidi martyrs.”
According to one Reuters report, around 50 Yezidi families fleeing the Shingal region in 2014 have found refuge in Armenia. However, according to the Deutsche Welle, the atrocities continue. Today, thousands of Yezidi men and boys remain missing and the Islamic State continues to subject about 3,000 Yezidi women and girls in Syria to horrific violence, including daily rapes and beatings.
Source: Asbarez
Link: Armenians Commemorate Third Anniversary of Yezidi Genocide