Yazidi People

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Armenia

Armenian Yazidi says he was ‘beaten and abused’ while serving as a conscript

by Ani Avetisyan

•2 min read

An 18-year-old ethnic Yazidi man has claimed he was abused immediately upon being conscripted into the Armenian armed forces. On 2 February, relatives of Vle Feroyan appealed to the public after they said they had lost contact with him. Feroyan contacted them the following day and said he had escaped to a nearby forest and would return home, after being beaten and forced to clean a toilet. The commander of the Kapan military unit, where Feroyan was serving, denied the allegations. He said Fe

Maya Shaveshyan. Photo: Hermine Virabian/OC Media.

Armenia

In pictures | Education in the shadow of early marriage

by Hermine Virabian

•6 min read

Zhenik, 17, has lived in the Shaveshyan family for around two years, but her father-in-law has never heard her voice. But around these parts, that’s not unusual. Her grandfather-in-law did not hear the voice of his daughter-in-law for more than 40 years of living together. Indeed, it is one of the accepted social practices among the majority of Armenian Yazidis. The Shaveshyans are one of the 62 Yazidi families in the village of Rya Taza. The village is located in Armenia’s western Aragatsotn

Armenia

After far-right smear, Yazidi rights activist faces criminal charges in Armenia

by Ani Avetisyan

•4 min read

Yazidi rights activist Sashik Sultanyan’s interview with an Iraqi news outlet was misinterpreted and used by a far-right provocateur to accuse him of an ‘anti-state’ conspiracy. A year later, Sultanyan faces three to six years in prison for ‘inciting ethnic hatred’ and will soon go on trial. ‘The charge I am facing [inciting ethnic hatred] is usually used to protect vulnerable groups, not the other way around’, Sashik Sultanyan, the chair of Yazidi Centre of Human Rights NGO, told OC Media.

Armenia

Armenia’s Yazidi boys and girls who don’t finish school

by Gayane Mkrtchyan

•7 min read

In the Yazidi villages in the west of Armenia, many girls and boys don’t finish school. For girls, it’s ‘a great tragedy’ to be unwed by 18, while the boys must go to work. But there are some in the community challenging the stereotypes, hoping to build a better world for future generations. Ester Sadoyan and Asya Orujulyan are year nine students. Ester is thinking of becoming a doctor and Asya dreams of working in a beauty salon. But in Ferik, tradition trumps education. ‘Our tradi