Poverty, Education, Ethnic Identification Main Concerns for Armenia’s Yezidis: Yovanovitch
Epress.am - In Sept. and Oct. 2009, Embassy officers met with members of the ethnic Yezidi community, Armenia’s largest minority group, to discuss key issues the community faces in Armenia, according to a confidential cabledated Dec. 3, 2009, released by WikiLeaks.
The cable, written by then US Ambassador to Armenia Marie L. Yovanovitch, notes that ethnic identity, education and endemic poverty are the main issues that confront the Yezidis in Armenia. Yerevan State University (YSU) Professor of Oriental Studies Garnik Asatryan told an embassy official that “Yezidis occupied the lowest category of Armenian society in terms of income and education levels” but attributed these problems more to their sociocultural norms and “Armenia’s clan economic system” rather than racial or religious discrimination.
In a Sept. 22 meeting, head of Yezidi public radio Hasan Tamoyan also identified education and poor economy as key issues, though noting that the difficulties his community faces were not unique to his ethnic group. “In fact, he believed that Yezidis in Armenia were afforded more recognition and special status from the government than in other FSU [former Soviet Union] countries. According to Tamoyan, many Yezidis simply choose not to go to school and women marry very young.”
On Oct. 14, the US Ambassador met with local Yezidi leaders from the villages of Algyaz, Sipan, and Jamshlu in Aragatsotn region, including Mayor of Algyaz Aziz Mhoyan, Tengiz Mamoyan of Sipan, and Tital Aloyan of Jamshlu.