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KARABAKH READY TO WELCOME YAZIDIS
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 21 2014
August 21, 2014 - 6:39am
The breakaway territory of Nagorno Karabakh, always on the lookout
for ways to boost its population, has offered to shelter Yazidis
fleeing from Islamic-State terrorists in Iraq.
"The Armenian people cannot be indifferent to what is now being done
to the Yazidi people," David Babaian, spokesperson for Karabakh's
de-facto president, Bako Sahakian, commented to RFE/RL's Armenian
service on August 19. "The Yazidis are the only people who have become
an integral part of the Armenian people."
According to local news outlets, Armenia is estimated to have a
Yazidi population of about 40,000. Data is not available for how
many Yazidis live in Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region
claimed by Azerbaijan.
Babaian skirted discussions of how the region's de-facto officials
would provide for any Yazidi arrivals, however -- a sensitive question,
given Azerbaijan's claims that Karabakh and its main champion, Armenia,
want to rework the territory's ethnic makeup.
Armenia's foreign ministry told RFE/RL that no Yazidis from Iraq have
requested asylum or fled to Armenia as yet.
Rallies, though, were held on August 13 in Yerevan, the Armenian
capital, to show support for Iraq's Yazidis, and in neighboring
Georgia, which has been estimated to have a Yazidi community of
about 20,000.
Citing local Yazidi sources, Rudaw.net, a Kurdish news site, reported
on August 15 that a handful of Yazidi refugees from Iraq actually
already had arrived in Georgia. But the information could not be
independently verified.
The Yazidis, though, are not the only way the conflict in Syria and
Iraq has found an echo in the South Caucasus. Karabakh and Armenia
both have offered a welcome to ethnic Armenian refugees from Syria; a
transition, which, in Armenia's case, has not always gone particularly
smoothly. Some refugees have opted to move on.
Meanwhile, even as it welcomes victims of the bloodshed in Syria and
Iraq, the region has provided perpetrators for the conflict as well.
In Georgia, one remote mountain valley is the native home of dreaded
IS commander Omar al-Shishani. Meanwhile, in Azerbaijan, some young
men have headed off to join the call for jihad in Syria.
For now, though, greater concern appears to be focused on Russia's
North Caucasus, long a prooving-ground for Islamic militants.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/69636
EurasiaNet.org
Aug 21 2014
August 21, 2014 - 6:39am
The breakaway territory of Nagorno Karabakh, always on the lookout
for ways to boost its population, has offered to shelter Yazidis
fleeing from Islamic-State terrorists in Iraq.
"The Armenian people cannot be indifferent to what is now being done
to the Yazidi people," David Babaian, spokesperson for Karabakh's
de-facto president, Bako Sahakian, commented to RFE/RL's Armenian
service on August 19. "The Yazidis are the only people who have become
an integral part of the Armenian people."
According to local news outlets, Armenia is estimated to have a
Yazidi population of about 40,000. Data is not available for how
many Yazidis live in Karabakh, a predominantly ethnic Armenian region
claimed by Azerbaijan.
Babaian skirted discussions of how the region's de-facto officials
would provide for any Yazidi arrivals, however -- a sensitive question,
given Azerbaijan's claims that Karabakh and its main champion, Armenia,
want to rework the territory's ethnic makeup.
Armenia's foreign ministry told RFE/RL that no Yazidis from Iraq have
requested asylum or fled to Armenia as yet.
Rallies, though, were held on August 13 in Yerevan, the Armenian
capital, to show support for Iraq's Yazidis, and in neighboring
Georgia, which has been estimated to have a Yazidi community of
about 20,000.
Citing local Yazidi sources, Rudaw.net, a Kurdish news site, reported
on August 15 that a handful of Yazidi refugees from Iraq actually
already had arrived in Georgia. But the information could not be
independently verified.
The Yazidis, though, are not the only way the conflict in Syria and
Iraq has found an echo in the South Caucasus. Karabakh and Armenia
both have offered a welcome to ethnic Armenian refugees from Syria; a
transition, which, in Armenia's case, has not always gone particularly
smoothly. Some refugees have opted to move on.
Meanwhile, even as it welcomes victims of the bloodshed in Syria and
Iraq, the region has provided perpetrators for the conflict as well.
In Georgia, one remote mountain valley is the native home of dreaded
IS commander Omar al-Shishani. Meanwhile, in Azerbaijan, some young
men have headed off to join the call for jihad in Syria.
For now, though, greater concern appears to be focused on Russia's
North Caucasus, long a prooving-ground for Islamic militants.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/69636