The Human Rights situation of the Yezidi minority - UNHCR

The absence of minority language textbooks has also been highlighted as creating problems
of communication between young Yezidi pupils lacking fluency in Armenian and Armenian
teachers. 62 Yezidi children typically require two to three years to learn the Armenian
language; being taught other subjects in Armenian up to that time obstructs their
development. Although there are some Yezidi teachers, unless they are from the same village
there are reported problems with transport during the winter months. Yezidis living in mixed
Yezidi-Armenian villages typically attend Armenian schools and so have no schooling in
Kurmanji Kurdish. Attendance rates among Yezidi children are lower than average and a
2001 study conducted by UNICEF found that drop-out rates were higher than average among
national minorities including Yezidis. 63
The availability of Yezidi textbooks, the extent of classes available for Yezidis, harassment
of Yezidi children in the classroom, the institution of remedial classes for Yezidi children
leaving school in April, the recruitment of Yezidi teachers and the prevention of the
permanent and premature withdrawal of Yezidi children from school were all concerns raised
by ECRI in 2006. The Armenian authorities have attempted to address some of these
concerns, for example by offering remedial classes for children working pastures in summer
and by providing facilitated access to pedagogical schools for Yezidi teachers. 64 However,
Yezidis do not appear to have taken advantage of these measures and communication
between the authorities and the community has been less than consistent.
The issues of language rights and the provision of textbooks in minority languages have been
further clouded by the disputed nature of Yezidi identity. Conflicting views have had
concrete policy outcomes hampering government provision of basic teaching materials to
Yezidi communities. New textbooks distributed in September 2006 were rejected in a number
of Yezidi villages as they were written in Yezideren/Ezdiki (what appears to be Kurmanji
Kurdish written in a Cyrillic script). 65 These textbooks had been prepared by Yezidis in
Yerevan associated with the campaign for a separate Yezidi identity, and were rejected by
Kurmanji Kurdish speakers used to the Latin or Arabic script. Hranush Kharatyan, head of
the government Department for National Minorities and Religious Affairs, had reportedly
offered to produce Ezdiki-Kurdish textbooks in a mutually agreed alphabet, but was warned
not to do so by both factions within the Yezidi community. 66 Some journalists have criticized
the Armenian authorities and UNICEF, which collaborated on the textbook project, for
allowing Yezidi identity debates to deprive the wider Yezidi population of vital social goods
such as textbooks. 67
With regard to higher education Armenian legislation does not specify how a member of a
minority group may take an entry examination for higher education in a language other than
Armenian. Although requests were made by Armenia’s Assyrian minority for two state-
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64
Council of Europe, European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, Second Report on Armenia, pp.25-
6
65 Krikorian, O., Armenia: Yezidi Identity Battle, IWPR Caucasus Reporting Service, No 364, 2 November 2006
66 Ibid.
67 See Krikorian, O., More Problems for Armenia’s Yezidis, 5 October 2006,
http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2006/10/05/more-problems-for-yezidis-in-armenia [accessed April 2008]
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