KURDS IN SERIOUS DANGER IN ARMENIA?
by Anna Israyelyan

Aravot
May 5 2010
Armenia

In response to a document circulated by the Azerbaijani delegation
at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE], the
editor-in-chief of a Kurdish paper says that it is Azerbaijan where
a policy of estrangement is carried out against Kurds.

As Aravot reported, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation at the
PACE, Rafael Huseynov, circulated a document No 12227 at the assembly
on 28 April. Nineteen delegates from Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria,
Sweden, Greece and other countries signed this document to make it a
draft resolution. The document, entitled "Armenia’s determination to
become a mono-ethnic state and to implement a policy against national
minorities", states that many representatives of national minorities
have slowly left Armenia over the past decades.

"At present, 42,000 Kurds, which make up the largest ethnic minority,
are in serious danger. After Armenians recently decapitated four Kurds
in Yerevan, the Federation of Yezidis of Kurdistan issued a statement,
telling international news agencies that the above mentioned bloody
murder was politically motivated and that it was part of a policy
of persecution and isolation against Kurds. Hundreds of Kurds held a
rally in front of the Armenian embassy in [Georgian capital] Tbilisi
on 20 April 2010 in protest against this policy," the document read.

Grishae Mamen (Chatoyev), editor-in-chief of the Kurdish paper Ria
Taza which has been published in Yerevan for 80 years now, answered
our questions about the information reported by the Azerbaijani
delegation at the PACE. He said: "I would like to say right from
the beginning that it does not correspond to reality. First of all,
the killing of the mentioned four persons took place not in Yerevan
but in one of the villages in Abovyan [a district in Armenia], in Nor
Geghi if I am not mistaken, and this was a domestic crime. I should
say that the law-enforcement entities solved it in less than three
days and the perpetrators (as far as I know, they were two brothers)
were sentenced to life in prison. It is totally wrong to interpret that
as a crime with political motives". The editor did not know anything
about a rally held in front of the Armenian embassy in Georgia. "I
have no information, but I do not believe [the information is true]".

Mamen added: "Those ‘brotherly’ Azeris – let them watch themselves.

According to the last census held in the Soviet Union in 1989,
70,000 or more Kurds lived in Armenia. According to our information,
at least 700,000 to 800,000 Kurds should be living in Azerbaijan. But
they were simply put under the name of ‘other nationalities’, and
it turns out that there are no Kurds there. There has been no war,
no earthquake or flood in Azerbaijan. So what has happened to those
Kurds? A policy of estrangement has been carried out," he said.

Asked if he agrees with the statement in the above mentioned document
that at present the 42,000 Kurds living in Armenia are in serious
danger, the editor-in-chief of Ria Taza paper answered: "I would
advise them [the Azerbaijani delegation] to give at least a couple of
examples when they speak of serious danger. Of course, our community
does have numerous needs. There are numerous shortcomings. However,
these difficulties are common for all residents of Armenia."