Onnik Krikorian

The interviews form part of continuing research by Onnik Krikorian on Armenia’s largest minority and the division within the community regarding ethnic identity. Interviews that form the basis for later articles are made available through the Armenian News Network ` Groong in the interest of maintaining a plurality of differing views on this sensitive matter. ONNIK KRIKORIAN YEREVAN ARMENIA Interview with Dr. Christine Allison, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris....

These interviews form part of research on the division within Armenia’s Yezidi community regarding identity and reports that some Yezidi schools are refusing to accept new school text books printed in Cyrillic and a language recognized by the Armenian Government as ‘Yezideren’ or ‘Ezdiki.’ ONNIK KRIKORIAN YEREVAN ARMENIA Hasan Tamoyan, Deputy President, National Union of Yezidis, member of the National Minority Council, and Head of Yezidi language programs on Armenian Public Radio....

Hasan Tamoyan is Deputy President of the National Union of Yezidis, member of the National Minority Council, and Head of Yezidi language programs on Armenian Public Radio. ONNIK KRIKORIAN: Perhaps we could start with introducing yourself? HASSAN TAMOYAN: Everyone knows me. Just represent me as Hasan Tamoyan, but if you want I can tell you my title. OK: Please. HT: So, I am an Honored Journalist of the Republic of Armenia, Head of the Yezidi Programme on Public Radio, Editor of the Yezidikhana newspaper, in the President’s Office I represent the Yezidi Community on the Coordinating Council for National Minorities, and I am Aziz Tamoyan’s Deputy in the National Union of Yezidis....

Rostom Atashov was born in Tbilisi, capital of the Republic of Georgia in 1963, and received his law degree from Yaroslavl State University in Russia in 1987 and worked in the Prosecutor’s office after graduation. He returned home to Georgia in 1988 and joined the Ministry of Justice, sitting several terms as a judge. He currently serves as President of the ‘Union of Yazidis of Georgia’ NGO, the larger of two Kurdish organizations in Georgia....

Aziz Tamoyan is the President of the National Union of Yezidi in the Republic of Armenia. This interview was held at the Union’s office in Yerevan on 13 September 2004 and is part of a follow-up series of interviews to work on the division within the Yezidi minority in Armenia conducted during June 1998. ONNIK KRIKORIAN: Perhaps you could start by introducing yourself… AZIZ TAMOYAN: Mr. Krikorian, this is the Yezidi newspaper [opens page to show census figures]…...

Hranush Kharatyan is the Head of the Department of National Minorities and Religious Affairs in the Armenian Government. This interview was held in Yerevan on 6 September 2004 and is part of a follow-up series of interviews to work on the division within the Yezidi minority in Armenia conducted during June 1998. YEREVAN, ARMENIA ONNIK KRIKORIAN: Perhaps I could start by asking what role this department has in relation to national minorities living in the Republic of Armenia?...

Amarik Sardar is the Yezidi editor of Riya Taza, the oldest surviving Kurdish newspaper in the world. This interview was held in the Riya Taza office in Yerevan on 25 August 2004 and is part of a follow-up series of interviews to work on the division within the Yezidi minority in Armenia conducted during June 1998. YEREVAN, ARMENIA ONNIK KRIKORIAN: What is the present state of the Riya Taza newspaper?...

Heydar Ali is the Caucasus Representative of the People’s Congress of Kurdistan (Kongra-Gel). This interview was conducted at the office of the Kurdistan Committee in Yerevan on 24 August 2004 and is part of a follow-up series of interviews to work on the division within the Yezidi minority in Armenia conducted during June 1998. Translation from Armenian to Kurmanji Kurdish and vice-versa was provided by the Yezidi Head of the Kurdistan Committee, Charkaze Rash-Mstoyan....

In an article published in the “Moscow Obshchaya Gazeta” last week, Yerevan sociologist Ludmilla Arutunyan expressed her concerns that the ‘social underpinnings’ behind the assassination of Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisyan and several others in the Armenian National Assembly on 27 October 1999 have been disregarded. According to the article, some are already asking - and most notably, among the general population rather than in the political circles of Yerevan, - why Nairi Hunanyan could not have acted alone....

Representatives from the OSCE met with the Foreign Minister and President of Armenia last Saturday to discuss the future of Nagorno Karabagh. The delegation also visited the enclave and are said to be optimistic after their meetings with the Karabagh leadership. The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanian however, is reported to be concerned that tensions between the United States and Russia over Chechnya may adversely affect their cooperation as members of the Minsk Group, and all sides are aware that the discussions are just that - ‘discussions’ - and not concrete steps towards a final peace settlement....

Armine is twenty-two years old, and – speaking Armenian, Russian and French – a recent University graduate. She has long black hair, expressive eyes, and a warm smile, and is very attractive. Like other girls her age and from her background she dresses stylishly, and with taste. She shows me photographs of her friends from recent years, and talks of her life. Her mother is critically ill and requires medical treatment....

On 21 March the Kurds will celebrate Newroz - the Kurdish New Year - and perhaps the most important date in the Kurdish calendar. As in past years, the fire of Newroz will burn not only in the Kurdish regions of southeast Turkey, but also in every city from London to Yerevan. Symbolising revolution, there will of course be one dramatic difference in the Newroz festivities this year. Abdullah Ocalan, President of the Kurdistan Workers Party languishes - and is undoubtedly being tortured - in a Turkish jail....

Gegham Manukyan is a member of the Central Committee of the Dashnaktsutiune, Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF, HHD) in the Republic of Armenia. He was interviewed during festivities celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] organised by the Yezidi [Kurdish] community in Armenia, and staged at the Russian Theatre in Yerevan. The Russian Theatre was full to capacity with Yezidi dressed in the Kurdish colours of red, yellow and green, and waving PKK and ERNK flags while live Kurdish music played....

Sabri Kash is the Representative of the PKK and ERNK in Armenia and the Caucasus. He was interviewed during festivities celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] organised by the Yezidi [Kurdish] community in Armenia, and staged at the Russian Theatre in Yerevan. The Russian Theatre was full to capacity with Yezidi dressed in the Kurdish colours of red, yellow and green, and waving PKK and ERNK flags while live Kurdish music played....

A Geopolitical shift The Kurdish National Liberation Movement Onnik Krikorian The expulsion from Damascus of Abdullah Ocalan - President of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - and the ensuing migration of Kurdish guerillas based on Syrian soil has changed little in the conflict between the Turkish Republic and its [significant] Kurdish minority. There has long been an understanding in Kurdish circles - particularly in Europe - that confrontation with the Turkish military was becoming far too unrealistic a situation to continue....

YEREVAN, Armenia – Sunday morning started with an Armenian coffee at a cafe on Abovian, allowing me to relax and pass the time before attending what I had been told was simply a Kurdish event at the Russian Theatre further on up the road. I knew I had the right day when a large group of both young and old people walked by - the women wearing the Kurdish colours of red, green and yellow....

The arrival of Abdullah Ocalan in Rome has put the Kurdish struggle for autonomy in southeast Turkey firmly on the geopolitical map. Whether you sympathise with the situation of the Kurds or not - or are even indifferent - there is now no avoiding the importance of the need for political debate and discussion. It is, of course, important to distinguish between the Kurds as an ethnic identity living across the many countries of the near and Middle East, and the Kurds living within the borders of the Turkish Republic....

“Hundreds of comrades who waged heroic resistance have become martyrs in the struggle for the establishment of the state of Kurdistan. They are markers on the path to victory, symbols of the revolutionary leadership of our party.” Abdullah Ocalan President, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Analysis: A Calculated Risk? Onnik Krikorian OCALAN - NOW MORE THAN EVER - HAS BECOME WITHOUT QUESTION THE EMBODIMENT AND PERSONIFICATION OF THE KURDISH STRUGGLE....

June 1998 Paruir Hairikian is a former Soviet dissident, a Presidential candidate, and the current Presidential Advisor on Human Rights. OK: Could you please describe the function of your role as the Presidential Advisor on Human Rights, and the role and function of the Committee examining the basis for Constitutional Reform in Armenia. PH: The Committee is mainly on an advisory basis, and unlike other similar committees functioning all over the world it is not independent....

Amarik Sardarian is the Yezidi editor of the Kurdish newspaper, “Riya Taza”. “Riya Taza” is one of the oldest Kurdish newspapers in the world and is based in Yerevan, Armenia. This interview was conducted by Onnik Krikorian during research undertaken in June for the Kurdish Human Rights Project investigating the situation of the Yezidi minority within the Republic of Armenia. As such, it forms part of a series of interviews with Yezidi, Kurdish and Armenian representatives....

Mahir Welat is the official representative of the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK) and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to Moscow and the former Soviet Union. He is also a member of the ruling Central Committee of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The Turkish Government has to date made two assassination attempts on his life in Russia. Mahir Welat was visiting Armenia to attend a Kurdish academic event in Yerevan and to tour Yezidi villages....

Dr. Karlene Chachani is a Yezidi living in Yerevan, Armenia. He is President of the Department of the Kurdish Writers of the Writers' Union of Armenia, and Chief Editor of “Friendship” - an Armenian-Kurdish political Journal. This interview was conducted by Onnik Krikorian during research undertaken in June for the Kurdish Human Rights Project investigating the situation of the Yezidi minority within the Republic of Armenia. As such, it forms part of a series of interviews with Yezidi, Kurdish and Armenian representatives....

Professor Garnik Asatrian is the Head of the Faculty of Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University. Born in Tehran in 1953, he moved to Yerevan in 1968. He has been prolific in his research into Kurdish tribal and linguistic tradition, and instrumental in the establishment of contemporary Kurdish academic study. He is Head of the newly founded Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies, and is editor of the publication “Acta Kurdica”....

11 June 1998 Aziz Tamoyan is the President of the National Union of Yezidi in Armenia. This interview was conducted by Onnik Krikorian during research undertaken in June for the Kurdish Human Rights Project investigating the situation of the Yezidi minority within the Republic of Armenia. As such, it forms part of a series of interviews with Yezidi, Kurdish and Armenian representatives. A report on the situation of minorities within the Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, with a focus on the Kurds, will be published this year by the Kurdish Human Rights Project....

“If Turkey’s Warlords asassinate the hope for the peaceful solution that we legislator’s represent, the road is open for Kurds to switch massively to the camp of violence and Islamic fundamentalism. And if the Kurds, next door to Iran’s Islamic revolutionaries, switch, then all Turkey will follow suit. And woe on us all.” Leyla Zana, Imprisoned Kurdish MP and Sakharov Peace Prize Winner Turkey easily lives up to its own promotion of being enviably unique in its meeting of east and west, but it is also a country that is deeply schizophrenic and confused....