Ezidikhan applauds Armenian recognition of Yezidi genocide

Armenian Parliament recognizes Yezidi genocide

[LALISH, Nineveh, Iraq. January 21, 2018] – Prime Minister Waheed Mandoo Hammo of Ezidikhan has expressed his nation’s appreciation and gratitude towards Armenia after its parliament.

Prime Minister Waheed Mandoo Hammo’s grandfather Hammo Shiro was the Pasha (high level official in the Ottoman Empire) and charismatic leader of the Yezidis in the late 1800s to early 1900s who offered sanctuary in Yezidi territory in the Shingal to at least twenty thousand Armenians. He is credited with having saved their lives in a bold and courageous act of defiance toward marauding Turks and Kurds during the Armenian genocide between 1915 and 1917.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia:

• Reaffirms the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to the human rights protection, the goals and principles set by the UN Charter,
• Attaches importance to the efforts of the international community aimed at implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
• Highlights the obligation of states enshrined by the international law on respecting the rights of national and religious minorities,
• Emphasizes the commitment of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people to fight on preventing genocides and other crimes against humanity,
• Takes into account the N2170 (2014) resolution of the UN Security Council, numerous calls of international governmental and non-governmental organizations,

ANNOUNCES THAT

• Recognizes and strictly condemns the genocidal acts by terrorist groups against the Yezidi people committed in territories of Iraq under their control,
• Strongly condemns all acts of terrorism and extremist ideology, the targeted actions by terrorist groups against the Yezidi people for their ethnic, national, political or religious affiliation, the tortures, inhuman and cruel treatment against them, the deliberate targeting of civilian, educational, medical and other objects of public significance, the destruction of religious and other historical buildings,
• Expresses its solidarity to the Iraqi people and state on this matter,
• Calls on the international community to investigate these crimes through international procedures, prosecute and hold accountable the persons who committed these international crimes,
• Calls on the international community to take measures to ensure the safety and protection of the Yezidi people, provide them humanitarian aid, as well as make all possible efforts to prevent, rule out and eliminate similar human rights violations.

Armenian MP Rustam Makhmudyan, a Yezidi, urged Armenia’s Parliament to “not only condemn the genocide against the Yezidi people, but also investigate the crimes through international agencies, pursue the perpetrators of the crimes and hold them accountable, and to take measures to prevent similar actions in the future”.

Armenian MP Rustam Makhmudyan, a Yezidi, urged Armenia’s Parliament to “not only condemn the genocide against the Yezidi people, but also investigate the crimes through international agencies, pursue the perpetrators of the crimes and hold them accountable, and to take measures to prevent similar actions in the future”.

The Yezidis have been persecuted for generations. They were denied education by the Ottoman Empire in the past and by the Iraqi government in the present. The new government plans to bring a fundamental change to these conditions. Under persecution, living under Sharia law, Yezidis have been denied fundamental human rights in utter violation of international agreements.

Introducing his new autonomous government, Prime Minister Waheed Mandoo Hammo on August 24, 2017 declared:

“The ancient Yezidi nation is distinct from Kurds in both faith and civilization. Out of the compulsion to protect Yezidi culture and civilization we present our rights as an ancient, indigenous people of northern Iraq to establish the formation of this Provisional Government of Ezidikhan. This council of the nation of Ezidikhan vows that a fair investigation to bring to justice all those who committed acts of genocide against our brothers, sisters and mothers will be carried out and none except the innocent will be spared.”

Stating further his convictions the Prime Minister said, “We shall rebuild our country and obtain the return of thousands of Yezidis who had to flee the violence.”