The Yezidi Kurds from Tbilisi

12/21/2006 Caucaz – By Nicolas Landru

On a sloping backstreet of Mtatsminda in Tbilisi, a basement marks
the entryway of the Kurdish International Centre of Culture and
Information. In this office, if any part of the community happens to
gather for the holidays, it is often the guardian, Erika Mouradian,
alone. This time, expectations of musicians to come from Armenia to
liven up the Centre will have been in vain: visible and active during
Soviet times, todayâ~@~Ys Yezidi Kurdish community in Tbilisi has
severely diminished. Unstructured and divided, the community is
without a doubt the weakest minority in Georgia.

The entryway to the Centre has only two tables and a television, but
it is rich in decoration: a Kurdish flag and star; an iconic photo of
Lalishâ~@~Tthe Yezidi Kurds religious center in Iraqâ~@~Tcontaining
religious symbols (a snow-flake, a peacock, three cupolas and an
eternal flame); and immense portraits of Abdullah Ã~Vcalan, the
leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the charismatic
figure behind the movement for the liberation of Kurds in Turkey, who
was arrested by the Turkish secret service in 1999, condemned to
death and then pardoned thanks to international pressure.

The events that occurred in Georgia at the same time as
Ã~Vcalanâ~@~Ys 1999 arrest are revealing of the Kurdish situation
there. Several hundred people went out into the streets of Tbilisi in
demonstration of their support for Ã~Vcalan, leader of the Kurdish
cause. Another part of the community, otherwise having no interest in
this fight, was opposed to the mobilization.

As for an illustration of the manner by which the Georgian society
understands the problems of Kurds, the following incident should shed
some light: it is often said that when the Chief of Police in Tbilisi
learned that because of Ã~Vcalanâ~@~Ys arrest the Kurds were
protesting in the suburb of Samgori, the Chief of Police gave his
forces the order to free the bandit. Criminals or street sweepers,
the women who clean the streets of Tbilisi at dawn are almost
exclusively Kurdish, the profession is so designated. Herein lies the
universally confirmed image of Kurds in Georgian society. Moreover,
whether it be a mere sad coincidence or not, in Georgian, the word
Kurd is pronounced â~@~kurtiâ~@~] and thief is pronounced
â~@~kurdi.â~@~]

To the sound of Kurdish television

In the Centre, Erika has access to six Kurdish television stations
including ROJâ~@~Tthe voice of the PKK broadcasted from Denmark, and
MED-TV, which is based in Belgium. She is often brought news from
Armenia, written in Armenian, Russian and Kurdish. There is no
Kurdish newspaper published in Georgian. The Centre is entiredly
devoted to the Kurdish international cause: One Russophone newspaper
is called Free Kurdistan, another is called Friendship and subtitled,
â~@~Ã~Vcalan, our leader.â~@~]

While facing the constantly blaring television, Djemal explains the
injustice Kurds face while all other nations have obtained a
territory. The construction of a Kurdish State is her dream. At the
announcement of Saddam Husseinâ~@~Ys death sentence, who is accused
of executing thousands of Kurds, Erika expressed a joy without
limits. Justice had been done.

Another identifying mark of the international Kurdish cause among the
Yezidi Kurds of Tbilisi is the name the Kurdish team took during an
interfaith football tournament organized by the Georgian Football
Federation and UNDP in December 2006. The Yezidi Kurdish team called
itself â~@~Barzaniâ~@~] in reference to the greatest Kurdish tragedy
in Iraki history. In 1983, Saddam Hussein arrested and dissapeared
everyone with the name Barzani.

Kurds or Yezidis?

All the same, this Caucasian populationâ~@~Ys identification with the
international Kurdish cause is far from apparent. The Centreâ~@~Ys
main room, among Kurdish flags and portaits of Ã~Vcalan, Yezidi
Kurdish symbols are also proudly displayed. In the rear room there is
a temple where adherents come to celebrate the saintâ~@~Ys days.
â~@~Itâ~@~Ys our Kurdish religionâ~@~] says Erika.

Moreover, the religious differences among Kurdophones, particularly
in the Caucasus, seriously shake up identities. While the majority of
Kurds in Turkey, Irak or Syria are Sunni Muslins, the Yezidi Kurds
practice an ancient religion which venerates the peacock, a symbol of
the demon which became in angel, the flame and the sun, and curious
syncretism of Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Because the collective identities were formed long ago around
religious principals, two distinct communities developed. In Georgia
the 1926 census counted approximately 10,000 Kurds and 2,000 Yezidi
Kurds. The Soviet authorities only recognized one Kurdish community.
All the same, the majority of were deported by Stalin in 1944 and the
Yezidi Kurds were counted at 18,329 versus 2,514 Muslims according to
the 2002 census. Additionally and separate from the religious factor,
Muslim Kurds, like those in Armenia, are well integrated in the Azeri
community. They have often been counted as Azeris, and some of them
currently present in Georgia even hold Azeri citizenship.

At the heart of the Yezidi Kurds community however, rifts are still
important. Between â~@~Ethnicly Yezidi Kurdsâ~@~], â~@~of Kurdish
ethnicity and Yezidi Kurdish religiousâ~@~], or simply
â~@~ethnically Kurdishâ~@~], different groups, organizations and
individuals represent all three options. In the small Centre of
Mtatsminda, if the word â~@~Yezidi Kurdsâ~@~] were not used, the
principal cultural organization of the community in Georgia would be
â~@~The Union of Georgian Yezidi Kurdsâ~@~], which does not
recognize a link with Muslim Kurds or the PKK movement. Armenian
scholarly manuals mention the â~@~Yezidi Kurdish nationâ~@~], but
for this reason, several Tbilisi organizations have complained to the
Armenian embassy. The community has little chance of arriving at a
consensus.

Marginalization and weakening

With nearly 40,000 souls, Armenia is host to the most important
Yezidi Kurdish community in the Caucasus, which is also the most
organized and most visible. In Georgia, they were counted at 33,331
in 1989 and 20,843 in 2002. Local associations however, estimate no
more than 6,000.

Are these figures inflated to mask the disasterous emmigration from
Georgia? In the 1980â~@~Ys, the community was still highly visible in
Tbilisi. The city containted one of the most reputed theatres of the
Kurdish world. Excluded from public positions and the majority of
professional tracks, without a port-parole or federal organization,
the Yezidi Kurds, according to a report by the International
Federation of Human Rights, occupy the most fragile social position
in the country.

The in Mtatsminda Centre, the women speak of their sons in Russia and
their daughters in Germany, France or Canada. In reality, the
community litteraly melted after 1989 and the rate of emigration is
the highest among Georgian minorities.

Another sign of the communityâ~@~Ys weakened state is that Yezidi
Kurdish youth, without any future in Georgia, often try their hand in
Armenia, although the economic situation there is in many regards
worse than in Georgia.

Translated by Christian Nils Larson (originally in French)

Caucaz

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