Armenian Parliament Designates Yazidi New Year a Holiday

World 05:04 PM - 2024-04-16

Armenian Parliament

During the Armenian parliament session on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, a decision was made to officially recognise the Yazidi New Year as a holiday for the Yazidi community in the country.

Yazidis are the second community in Armenia

Nasir Karam Nasir, an advisor to the Kurdistan Parliament on matters related to genocide and Anfal affairs, stated in an interview with PUKMEDIA: "Armenia's parliament has officially designated the Yazidi New Year as a holiday for Yazidis in the country, in the presence of a delegation of Yazidis from advanced cadres of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan."

"The Yazidis, the second largest community in Armenia, have experienced rights deprivation. However, following the genocide perpetrated by ISIS terrorists, countries worldwide are currently competing to grant privileges to the Yazidis," Nasir added. "On January 16, 2018, the Armenian parliament officially recognised the Yazidi tragedy in Iraq as a genocide. Today, the Yazidi New Year being designated as an official holiday for the Yazidis in the country acknowledges the existence of the Yazidis, who are the second largest population in Armenia."

More than 1,290 Yazidi citizens were martyred

ISIS militants seized control of Sinjar on August 3, 2014. Based on the statistics, about 1,290 Yazidi civilians were murdered, and more than 70 mass graves and numerous individual graves have been discovered in Sinjar following the tragedy. On April 17, 2024, which aligns with the Yazidi New Year, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officially announced a public holiday in the Kurdistan Region, and the Armenian parliament has also recognised the Yazidi New Year as a public holiday for the Yazidi community.

The names of the Yazidis will be listed in the Armenian Genocide Calendar

Ezzat Jundi, a high-ranking member of the PUK, participated in today's meeting of the Armenian parliament and told PUKMEDIA: "The Armenian parliament decided to include the names of all Yazidis who were murdered in the August 3, 2014 genocide perpetrated by ISIS terrorists in the yearly Armenian Genocide Calendar."

"The Armenian parliament has resolved to incorporate the Yazidi genocide into the Armenian Genocide Calendar, a publication that has been in existence for 105 years. This decision entails that the Yazidi genocide will be officially acknowledged on April 24, coinciding with the commemoration of the Armenian genocide that occurred on April 24, 1915," he added.

The 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Sinjar provoked both local and international responses. In light of this, the parliaments of Germany, Belgium, Canada, Australia, and various other nations officially acknowledged the event as genocide and expressed condemnation.


PUKMEDIA