[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” next_background_color=”#f8f8f8″ admin_label=”Header Section” _builder_version=”4.15″ background_color=”#000000″ custom_padding=”|||” bottom_divider_style=”slant2″ bottom_divider_height=”50px” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”ASSESSING KURDISH MILITANCY IN ARMENIA” text_orientation=”center” background_overlay_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.4)” content_max_width_last_edited=”off|desktop” admin_label=”Contents” _builder_version=”4.15.1″ title_font=”Oswald|||on|||||” title_text_align=”left” title_font_size=”45px” title_letter_spacing=”0.05em” title_line_height=”1.5em” content_font=”Merriweather||||||||” content_font_size=”19px” subhead_font=”Oswald||||||||” subhead_text_align=”left” subhead_font_size=”20px” subhead_line_height=”1.9em” background_color=”rgba(255, 255, 255, 0)” background_image=”https:\/\/onnik-krikorian.com\/new_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/1tTnA1ciDYfqwHWWZfdy4Aw-2.jpeg” parallax=”on” parallax_method=”on” custom_button_one=”on” button_one_text_size=”15px” button_one_bg_color=”#dca57d” button_one_border_width=”10px” button_one_border_color=”#dca57d” button_one_border_radius=”0px” button_one_letter_spacing=”3px” button_one_font=”Oswald|||on|” button_one_use_icon=”off” max_height=”500px” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”10%||5%||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ title_font_size_tablet=”60px” title_font_size_phone=”38px” title_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_css_title=”padding-top:10%” button_one_border_color_hover=”#c99872″ button_one_border_radius_hover=”0px” button_one_letter_spacing_hover=”3px” button_one_bg_color_hover=”#c99872″ global_colors_info=”{}” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”on” button_one_border_color__hover=”#c99872″ button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”on” button_one_border_radius__hover=”0px” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”on” button_one_letter_spacing__hover=”3px” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”on” button_one_bg_color__hover=”#c99872″ button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Blog Section” _builder_version=”4.15″ background_color=”#f8f8f8″ custom_padding=”100px|0px|100px|0px|true|” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.15″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.15″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.15.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Merriweather||||||||” header_font=”Oswald||||||||” header_font_size=”26px” header_line_height=”2em” custom_margin=”-85px||||false|false” custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
\n2006-10-24<\/p>\n
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 001484<\/p>\n
SUBJECT: ASSESSING KURDISH MILITANCY IN ARMENIA \u2014 SO FAR,\u00a0NOT TOO MUCH<\/p>\n
Classified By: CDA A. F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b, d).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
SUMMARY<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n
\u00b61. (S) PKK activities in Armenia seem thus far to be fairly\u00a0low-level, though Armenia\u2019s Yezidi community \u2014 an ethnic\u00a0minority related to Kurds by blood and language \u2014 may be\u00a0receptive to PKK outreach. \u00a0Among other things, we have\u00a0heard reports that the PKK sends money to some Armenian\u00a0Yezidi and that there are links between Yezidi communities in\u00a0Armenia and Kurdish militant groups in Turkey. We have also\u00a0heard that the Armenian government has made lukewarm attempts\u00a0to hush a freelance journalist who reports extensively on the\u00a0Yezidi and their affiliations with Kurdish militants. We\u00a0believe many of these reports to be credible.\u00a0 END SUMMARY.<\/p>\n
\u00b62. (S) We have undertaken to expand our knowledge of the\u00a0Kurdish-related Yezidi community in Armenia, and the extent\u00a0of any ties or sympathies to the PKK terrorist group. The\u00a0Yezidi are closely related to Kurds; the main difference\u00a0between the two cultures is religious. While most Kurds are\u00a0Muslim, the Yezidi practice a distinct religion, rooted in\u00a0Zoroastrianism, which forbids eating lettuce and wearing the\u00a0color blue. Some Armenian Yezidi refuse to acknowledge that\u00a0they speak Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish), insisting instead\u00a0that they speak \u201cYezidiki,\u201d which they say is a separate\u00a0language. (NOTE:\u00a0 The Yezidi clearly speak Kurmanji. Any\u00a0differences between Kurmanji and the language spoken in\u00a0Yezidi villages are small, regional variations. END NOTE.)<\/p>\n
This cable represents the first installment of what we hope\u00a0will be a short series over the next year on Yezidi\/Kurdish\u00a0issues and the possible activities of Kurdish militants in\u00a0Armenia. (NOTE: Though the organization is now called the\u00a0Kongra-Gel, almost all of the sources for this cable called\u00a0it the PKK. For that reason, we will refer to it as the PKK\u00a0throughout this telegram.\u00a0 END NOTE.)<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n
YEZIDI EXPERT SAYS PKK SENDS MONEY TO SOME YEZIDIS<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n
\u00b63. (S) As reported reftel, Professor Garnik Asatrian, an\u00a0expert on the Yezidi and Kurds, told us that the PKK and\u00a0other \u201cKurdish political organizations\u201d in Sweden and Iran\u00a0are sending money to about 20 Armenian Yezidi.\u00a0 Asatrian said\u00a0that organizations like the Kurdistan Committee NGO and the\u00a0Kurdish-Yezidi National Cultural Center \u201cKurdistan\u201d are\u00a0shells that exist to collect money, and that they pay people\u00a0to participate in the groups\u2019 sporadic demonstrations.\u00a0Though Asatrian discounted the possibility that the Yezidi\u00a0recipients were involved in any nefarious activity, he said\u00a0he thought the government should ban all Kurdish\u00a0organizations from Armenia. \u201cI don\u2019t want Armenia to become\u00a0an arena for Kurdish political developments. I don\u2019t want it\u00a0to become another Stockholm,\u201d he said. (NOTE: Asatrian, who\u00a0speaks Kurmanji, is a social scholar who focuses on Kurdish\u00a0and Iranian issues. He heads Yerevan State University\u2019s\u00a0Iranian Studies Department. Though not himself a Kurd, he is\u00a0plugged-in to the Yezidi community in Armenia and visits\u00a0Kurdish communities in Iran during his frequent travels\u00a0there.\u00a0 END NOTE.)<\/p>\n
\u00b64. (S) Asatrian gave us the names of several prominent Yezidi\u00a0he said had received money from Kurdish political\u00a0organizations. One of them, writer Karlene Chachani, edited\u00a0a Kurdish journal published in 1997 with Asatrian. (NOTE: We\u00a0have seen various spellings of Chachani\u2019s name, including\u00a0Karmne Chachani and Karlen Chachami.\u00a0 END NOTE.) Another\u00a0one, Charkeze Erash, is a professor and the long-term\u00a0representative of the Kurdish People\u2019s Congress in Armenia.\u00a0Asatrian said Erash \u201cadvocates the formation of great\u00a0Kurdistan, including Armenia and extending to the Persian\u00a0Gulf.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00b65. (S) Asatrian said he did not know the purpose, the means,\u00a0or the amount of money the PKK sends to Yezidis.\u00a0 Asatrian\u00a0told us Yerevan-based organizations like the Kurdistan\u00a0Committee and the Kurdish Yezidi National Cultural Center are\u00a0shells whose main purpose is collecting money from the\u00a0Yezidis for the PKK, though he noted Yezidis, who are mostly\u00a0nomadic cattle and goat herders, are not quite an ideal\u00a0fundraising resource. He said the organizations also pay\u00a0Yezidi villagers the equivalent of several dollars to\u00a0participate in Kurdish demonstrations in Yerevan.\u00a0 (NOTE: The\u00a0demonstrations are becoming less frequent and less\u00a0significant. Earlier this year, Yezidi protesters announced\u00a0their intent to march to the Embassy, but they never showed\u00a0END NOTE.) Asatrian mused that the PKK needed the\u00a0Soviet-educated Yezidis to boost its own poorly educated\u00a0ranks.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
PKK RECRUIT YEZIDI FIGHTERS<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00b66. (S) We have heard reports from several different sources\u00a0that some Yezidi villagers have taken up the Kurdish\u00a0nationalist banner and gone to fight alongside PKK forces in\u00a0Turkey. According to Asatrian, about five years ago, the PKK\u00a0set off an outcry among the Yezidi when it tried to recruit\u00a0fighters from Armenian villages. The villagers complained to\u00a0the government, and the PKK, fearing an investigation,\u00a0discontinued its efforts.<\/p>\n
\u00b67. (S) Asatrian\u2019s story was corroborated by Hasan Tamoyan,\u00a0the host of Armenia\u2019s daily Yezidi radio show.\u00a0 Tamoyan said\u00a0he knew of at least one case in which a Yezidi youth had been\u00a0lured out of the country to fight with the Kurds. He would\u00a0not give specifics.<\/p>\n
\u00b68. (SBU) An Internet search turns up dozens of\u00a0Turkish-language Web pages, and a few in English, that\u00a0mention Armenian Yezidi Yusuf Avdoyan, a guerrilla of the\u00a0Kurdish militant People\u2019s Defense Forces (HPG), who was\u00a0captured by Turkish forces and killed in late August 2005. A\u00a0Yerevan-based Western freelance journalist, Onnik Krikorian\u00a0(strictly protect), told us that after Avdoyan\u2019s death, one\u00a0of his sisters went to Turkey to take up arms with the HPG,\u00a0the PKK\u2019s militant wing. Avdoyan was from the region of\u00a0Armavir, which is the hub of the Yezidi community in Armenia.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n
JOURNALIST: GOAM IS AWARE OF PKK PRESENCE<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n
\u00b69. (S) Krikorian is a UK citizen who has reported on the\u00a0Yezidi for eight years, and likely is the most knowledgeable\u00a0Western expert on the Armenian Yezidi community today.\u00a0During a two-hour conversation with Poloff, Krikorian told\u00a0stories of PKK uniforms and portraits of Abdullah Ocalan\u00a0adorning walls in Yezidi homes, and of Yezidi villagers\u00a0greeting each other with the customary PKK salutation of\u00a0\u201cheval,\u201d the Kurmanji word for \u201ccomrade.\u201d He has published\u00a0on his blog (http:\/\/oneworld.blogsome.com) interviews with\u00a0prominent Yezidis and unnamed PKK representatives from Turkey\u00a0and Syria. During recent visits to several Yezidi village,\u00a0Krikorian said many villagers asked him what he knew about\u00a0Ocalan\u2019s situation. Krikorian said that, though government\u00a0officials had denied PKK presence in Armenia and manifested a\u00a0general lack of interest in the issue (reftel), he believed\u00a0the terrorist group was on the GOAM\u2019s [Government of Armenia] radar.<\/p>\n
\u00b610. (S) Krikorian told us that a Yerevan State University\u00a0professor approached him in 2004 and asked him to take a\u00a0group of students to Georgia on a reporting trip. When\u00a0Krikorian agreed, he says, he was asked to name his price,\u00a0which struck him as quite unusual. The professor then took\u00a0out a sheaf of papers, which Krikorian recognized as his\u00a0writings on the Yezidi.\u00a0 \u201cEvery reference to the PKK was\u00a0underlined,\u201d Krikorian said.\u00a0 He said the official told him\u00a0that, if he were to accept YSU\u2019s offer of employment, he\u00a0would have to stop writing those articles, because the topic\u00a0was a \u201cvery sensitive\u201d one for the Armenian government.\u00a0Krikorian, who is a diasporan Armenian, said the professor\u00a0tried to appeal to his sense of nation to convince him to\u00a0stop writing about the PKK. The professor said his friends\u00a0at the MFA had told him that passportless PKK fighters were\u00a0slipping through unattended pockets of Armenia\u2019s western\u00a0border, implying that there was nothing the MFA could do\u00a0about it, Krikorian said. (NOTE: Professor Asatrian, who is\u00a0not the professor to whom Krikorian referred, told Poloff\u00a0during a separate conversation that he had heard reports of\u00a0PKK militants entering Armenia through gaps in the western\u00a0border, in order to receive medical treatment. END NOTE.)\u00a0Unswayed, Krikorian said he declined the job offer \u2014 which\u00a0he considered a bribe \u2014 and left the office.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
MANY YEZIDI IDENTIFY WITH PKK CAUSES<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
\u00b611. (S) Many prominent Yezidi, including Yezidi radio\u00a0personality Tamoyan, publicly and adamantly disassociate\u00a0themselves from the Kurds. Those who identify with the Kurds\u00a0accuse Armenian nationalists of using anti-Kurdish propaganda\u00a0during the late 1980s and early 1990s to turn the Yezidi\u00a0against their Kurdish brethren.\u00a0 (NOTE: Armenian attitudes\u00a0toward Kurds are complicated by the fact that many Eastern\u00a0Anatolian Kurds cooperated with Turks in the deportations and\u00a0massacres of Armenians in 1915, though of course more\u00a0recently the Kurds have often themselves been the victims of\u00a0Turkey\u2019s less-enlightened minority policies. END NOTE.)<\/p>\n
\u00b612. (S) Though many Yezidi leaders disavow Kurdish roots,\u00a0Krikorian said most Yezidi he had met identified with Kurdish\u00a0political causes. Earlier this month, Krikorian blogged\u00a0about a Yezidi wedding he had attended in Armavir, where\u00a0guests danced and sang along to PKK songs. Krikorian said\u00a0that while many Yezidi he had met in villages were very open\u00a0about their PKK sympathies, some were reluctant to express\u00a0them to him because of his Armenian heritage.<\/p>\n
\u00b613. (S) Tamoyan told us the GOAM had not taken action to\u00a0expel the PKK representatives because the government\u00a0subscribed to the idea that \u201cthe enemy of my enemy is my\u00a0friend.\u201d Nonetheless, Yezidi may often prefer to hide PKK\u00a0sympathies from the Armenian government. Tamoyan, who told\u00a0us he believed the government should expel PKK\u00a0representatives, characterized his own pro-Armenian position\u00a0as a question of loyalty to the government that finally\u00a0recognized the Yezidi as a distinct ethnicity after years of\u00a0Soviet insistence that the Yezidi were Kurds. He said the\u00a0Kurds propagandized against the Yezidi, and that they falsely\u00a0accused the GOAM of anti-Yezidi discrimination. However,\u00a0Tamoyan\u2019s views do not appear to be broadly representative of\u00a0his community. Journalist Krikorian has found that only a\u00a0few Yezidi completely deny ethnic and lingual ties to the\u00a0Kurds. Many of them say they are both Kurdish and Yezidi.\u00a0As many Yezidi do not seem to make the same sharp distinction\u00a0between Yezidi and Kurdish national identity that Tamoyan\u00a0does, it is possible they do not feel the same degree of\u00a0warmth toward the GOAM for acknowledging the distinction.\u00a0Similarly, they also may be more receptive than Tamoyan to\u00a0PKK overtures.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n
COMMENT<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n
\u00b614. (S) Though Armenia is hardly a hotbed of terrorist\u00a0activity, its porous borders, minority with Kurdish\u00a0sympathies, and governmental lack of interest in the PKK\u00a0combine to create a non-threatening environment for Kurdish\u00a0militants. We discount unsubstantiated reports of Kurdish\u00a0militant training camps around Lake Sevan, but such\u00a0developments in remote areas are not out of the question.\u00a0The Yezidi live and work for the most part undisturbed, and\u00a0by some accounts, forgotten, by the Armenian government,\u00a0which might not even notice if the PKK were to take a more\u00a0active role here.<\/p>\n
GODFREY<\/p>\n
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PKK activities in Armenia seem thus far to be fairly low-level, though Armenia\u2019s Yezidi community \u2014 an ethnic minority related to Kurds by blood and language \u2014 may be receptive to PKK outreach. Among other things, we have heard reports that the PKK sends money to some Armenian Yezidi and that there are links between Yezidi communities in Armenia and Kurdish militant groups in Turkey. We have also heard that the Armenian government has made lukewarm attempts to hush a freelance journalist who reports extensively on the Yezidi and their affiliations with Kurdish militants. We believe many of these reports to be credible. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4008,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6121","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
Assessing Kurdish Militancy in Armenia - Onnik James Krikorian - Journalist, Photojournalist, Consultant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/onnik-krikorian.com\/new_site\/assessing-kurdish-militancy-in-armenia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Assessing Kurdish Militancy in Armenia - Onnik James Krikorian - Journalist, Photojournalist, Consultant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PKK activities in Armenia seem thus far to be fairly low-level, though Armenia\u2019s Yezidi community \u2014 an ethnic minority related to Kurds by blood and language \u2014 may be receptive to PKK outreach. Among other things, we have heard reports that the PKK sends money to some Armenian Yezidi and that there are links between Yezidi communities in Armenia and Kurdish militant groups in Turkey. We have also heard that the Armenian government has made lukewarm attempts to hush a freelance journalist who reports extensively on the Yezidi and their affiliations with Kurdish militants. 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Among other things, we have heard reports that the PKK sends money to some Armenian Yezidi and that there are links between Yezidi communities in Armenia and Kurdish militant groups in Turkey. We have also heard that the Armenian government has made lukewarm attempts to hush a freelance journalist who reports extensively on the Yezidi and their affiliations with Kurdish militants. 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