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  • The Yezidi Kurds from Tbilisi

    The Yezidi Kurds from Tbilisi

    12/21/2006 Caucaz - By Nicolas Landru

    On a sloping backstreet of Mtatsminda in Tbilisi, a basement marks
    the entryway of the Kurdish International Centre of Culture and
    Information. In this office, if any part of the community happens to
    gather for the holidays, it is often the guardian, Erika Mouradian,
    alone. This time, expectations of musicians to come from Armenia to
    liven up the Centre will have been in vain: visible and active during
    Soviet times, todayâ~@~Ys Yezidi Kurdish community in Tbilisi has
    severely diminished. Unstructured and divided, the community is
    without a doubt the weakest minority in Georgia.

    The entryway to the Centre has only two tables and a television, but
    it is rich in decoration: a Kurdish flag and star; an iconic photo of
    Lalishâ~@~Tthe Yezidi Kurds religious center in Iraqâ~@~Tcontaining
    religious symbols (a snow-flake, a peacock, three cupolas and an
    eternal flame); and immense portraits of Abdullah Ã~Vcalan, the
    leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the charismatic
    figure behind the movement for the liberation of Kurds in Turkey, who
    was arrested by the Turkish secret service in 1999, condemned to
    death and then pardoned thanks to international pressure.

    The events that occurred in Georgia at the same time as
    Ã~Vcalanâ~@~Ys 1999 arrest are revealing of the Kurdish situation
    there. Several hundred people went out into the streets of Tbilisi in
    demonstration of their support for Ã~Vcalan, leader of the Kurdish
    cause. Another part of the community, otherwise having no interest in
    this fight, was opposed to the mobilization.

    As for an illustration of the manner by which the Georgian society
    understands the problems of Kurds, the following incident should shed
    some light: it is often said that when the Chief of Police in Tbilisi
    learned that because of Ã~Vcalanâ~@~Ys arrest the Kurds were
    protesting in the suburb of Samgori, the Chief of Police gave his
    forces the order to free the bandit. Criminals or street sweepers,
    the women who clean the streets of Tbilisi at dawn are almost
    exclusively Kurdish, the profession is so designated. Herein lies the
    universally confirmed image of Kurds in Georgian society. Moreover,
    whether it be a mere sad coincidence or not, in Georgian, the word
    Kurd is pronounced â~@~kurtiâ~@~] and thief is pronounced
    â~@~kurdi.â~@~]

    To the sound of Kurdish television

    In the Centre, Erika has access to six Kurdish television stations
    including ROJâ~@~Tthe voice of the PKK broadcasted from Denmark, and
    MED-TV, which is based in Belgium. She is often brought news from
    Armenia, written in Armenian, Russian and Kurdish. There is no
    Kurdish newspaper published in Georgian. The Centre is entiredly
    devoted to the Kurdish international cause: One Russophone newspaper
    is called Free Kurdistan, another is called Friendship and subtitled,
    â~@~Ã~Vcalan, our leader.â~@~]

    While facing the constantly blaring television, Djemal explains the
    injustice Kurds face while all other nations have obtained a
    territory. The construction of a Kurdish State is her dream. At the
    announcement of Saddam Husseinâ~@~Ys death sentence, who is accused
    of executing thousands of Kurds, Erika expressed a joy without
    limits. Justice had been done.

    Another identifying mark of the international Kurdish cause among the
    Yezidi Kurds of Tbilisi is the name the Kurdish team took during an
    interfaith football tournament organized by the Georgian Football
    Federation and UNDP in December 2006. The Yezidi Kurdish team called
    itself â~@~Barzaniâ~@~] in reference to the greatest Kurdish tragedy
    in Iraki history. In 1983, Saddam Hussein arrested and dissapeared
    everyone with the name Barzani.

    Kurds or Yezidis?

    All the same, this Caucasian populationâ~@~Ys identification with the
    international Kurdish cause is far from apparent. The Centreâ~@~Ys
    main room, among Kurdish flags and portaits of Ã~Vcalan, Yezidi
    Kurdish symbols are also proudly displayed. In the rear room there is
    a temple where adherents come to celebrate the saintâ~@~Ys days.
    â~@~Itâ~@~Ys our Kurdish religionâ~@~] says Erika.

    Moreover, the religious differences among Kurdophones, particularly
    in the Caucasus, seriously shake up identities. While the majority of
    Kurds in Turkey, Irak or Syria are Sunni Muslins, the Yezidi Kurds
    practice an ancient religion which venerates the peacock, a symbol of
    the demon which became in angel, the flame and the sun, and curious
    syncretism of Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

    Because the collective identities were formed long ago around
    religious principals, two distinct communities developed. In Georgia
    the 1926 census counted approximately 10,000 Kurds and 2,000 Yezidi
    Kurds. The Soviet authorities only recognized one Kurdish community.
    All the same, the majority of were deported by Stalin in 1944 and the
    Yezidi Kurds were counted at 18,329 versus 2,514 Muslims according to
    the 2002 census. Additionally and separate from the religious factor,
    Muslim Kurds, like those in Armenia, are well integrated in the Azeri
    community. They have often been counted as Azeris, and some of them
    currently present in Georgia even hold Azeri citizenship.

    At the heart of the Yezidi Kurds community however, rifts are still
    important. Between â~@~Ethnicly Yezidi Kurdsâ~@~], â~@~of Kurdish
    ethnicity and Yezidi Kurdish religiousâ~@~], or simply
    â~@~ethnically Kurdishâ~@~], different groups, organizations and
    individuals represent all three options. In the small Centre of
    Mtatsminda, if the word â~@~Yezidi Kurdsâ~@~] were not used, the
    principal cultural organization of the community in Georgia would be
    â~@~The Union of Georgian Yezidi Kurdsâ~@~], which does not
    recognize a link with Muslim Kurds or the PKK movement. Armenian
    scholarly manuals mention the â~@~Yezidi Kurdish nationâ~@~], but
    for this reason, several Tbilisi organizations have complained to the
    Armenian embassy. The community has little chance of arriving at a
    consensus.

    Marginalization and weakening

    With nearly 40,000 souls, Armenia is host to the most important
    Yezidi Kurdish community in the Caucasus, which is also the most
    organized and most visible. In Georgia, they were counted at 33,331
    in 1989 and 20,843 in 2002. Local associations however, estimate no
    more than 6,000.

    Are these figures inflated to mask the disasterous emmigration from
    Georgia? In the 1980â~@~Ys, the community was still highly visible in
    Tbilisi. The city containted one of the most reputed theatres of the
    Kurdish world. Excluded from public positions and the majority of
    professional tracks, without a port-parole or federal organization,
    the Yezidi Kurds, according to a report by the International
    Federation of Human Rights, occupy the most fragile social position
    in the country.

    The in Mtatsminda Centre, the women speak of their sons in Russia and
    their daughters in Germany, France or Canada. In reality, the
    community litteraly melted after 1989 and the rate of emigration is
    the highest among Georgian minorities.

    Another sign of the communityâ~@~Ys weakened state is that Yezidi
    Kurdish youth, without any future in Georgia, often try their hand in
    Armenia, although the economic situation there is in many regards
    worse than in Georgia.

    Translated by Christian Nils Larson (originally in French)

    Caucaz

    --Boundary_(ID_UrV5pyxKVXkCkl2xL0 EAYw)--
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