It is no longer a secret to anyone that there is racial discrimination against Yazidis in Armenian society. The Yazidis no longer hide that they are discriminated against in all areas. They say that they were in a difficult situation not only under Serzh Sargsyan’s rule, but also under Nikol Pashinyan’s rule now. Recently, an interview with Yazidi human rights activist Sashik Sultanyan in an Iraqi news agency has been misinterpreted and the far-right provocateur Armenians used this interview to accuse him of an anti-state conspiracy. If Sultanyan is found guilty after his interrogation in court, he will face 3-6 years in prison for “inciting ethnic hatred” and will soon be jailed.

The trial process of Sashik Sultanyan, the head of Yazidi Human Rights Center, has been going on for one month already, and Faktyoxla Lab. has tried to investigate the issue.

In early autumn last year, far-right activist Narek Malian submitted a complaint to Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) over Sultanyan’s alleged ‘incitement of ethnic hatred’. The incident in question was an interview Sultanyan gave to the Iraqi-based Yazidi media outlet Yazidis.info. In the interview, Sultanyan spoke about the problems he believes the Yazidi minority faces in Armenia.

The problems he mentioned range from a lack of language specialists in Yazidi community schools, to Yazidi villages where lands were illegally seized by oligarchs, to a lack of political representation, to the generalized poverty of the mostly rural Yazidi population.

‘It was supposed to be a personal conversation, and I was talking in simple language, which was maybe a bit emotional. But the thoughts I expressed were not made up and were far from inciting hatred’, Sultanyan said.

He added that when he was called by the journalist, he did not realize that it was an interview that would be recorded and published, he said that he thought he was just sharing his private opinions.

Sultanyan says that after the publication of the interview, he contacted the journalist, who later deleted it. Copies of the video, however, still remain online.

Lawyers from The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, which is providing legal aid for the activist, called the translation ‘inaccurate’ and said that the ‘logic of the conversation was distorted and presented in a negative context’.

The interview was translated ‘by a prejudiced person who is not even a certified translator’, a statement from The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor reads.

In October 2020, the National Security Service initiated an official investigation, with Sultanyan charged in May 2021. After he was charged, Sultanyan’s home and the office of the Yezidi Center of Human Rights were searched by NSS agents who confiscated three computers, one of which belonged to a family member, as well as two mobile phones, and several USB sticks.

Armenia’s Prosecutor General, in a ‘clarification’ statement released on August 5, justified the charges of ‘inciting ethnic hatred’ as Sultanyan supposedly said that Yazidis ‘experience discrimination in Armenia and cannot study their language or develop their culture’. The Prosecutor General also referenced supposed statements by Sultanyan that ‘Armenians had seized Yazidi property’ and ‘that Yazidis do not have the opportunity to advance in the state system’.

The complaint made by the far-right activist Narek Malian read as follows: “This means that Sashik Sultanyan, of Yazidi descent, lives in Armenia and openly stated that until April-May 2018 there were very good relations between Armenians and Yezidis in Armenia. He even called on the new Armenian authorities to continue their old policies. However, in September 2019, Soros office started cooperation with Sashik Sultanyan, he received his first grant from Soros in the amount of $10,000. After that, he immediately changed his mind about the coexistence of the Armenian and Yezidi peoples. Of course, the country’s national security agency will learn more about the connection of all this...”

However, in 2020, Sashik Sultanyan gave an interview in Yazidi language to the Iraqi-based Yazidi media outlet Yazidis.info where he said:

“The rights of Yezidis in Armenia are not protected, Armenia does not fulfill its international commitments to protect the rights of national minorities, including Yezidis. The Yezidi language is not taught in Armenia, the language is not developed, Yezidis are losing their culture in Armenia.ˮ

Narek Malian, a prominent far-right activist and the founder of VETO, a far-right group that describes itself as focused on ‘revealing the network of foreign agents in Armenia’, says that Sashik Sultanyan is supported by the Soros Foundation, and that there is no problem with Yazidis in Armenia.

However, in the article prepared in 2016 by Zemfira Kalashyan and Boris Murazi, representatives of the Sinjar National Unity Non-Governmental Organization of Yazidi Kurds, stated that the majority of Yazidi Kurdish girls are uneducated. Kalashyan and Murazi emphasized that the state plays a role in the formation of such a situation, together with the heads of the families. In their opinion, the Armenian state is indifferent to the education of Yazidi Kurdish girls.

In the article, they said that representatives of this religious ethnic group encouraged their daughters to establish early marriage. However, in Armenia, men and women start families only from the age of 18: “Due to the inactivity of the local institutions of the Armenian state, Yazidi Kurds do not send their daughters to school. State institutions are indifferent to this, thus breaking the law themselves.”

Sultanyan told OC Media that he was surprised that the National Security Service had seriously considered Malian’s complaint, as Malian regularly made unsubstantiated accusations against NGOs that received foreign funding and had started several spurious lawsuits.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights experts, the Freedom House and the Human Rights Watch, had called Armenia’s authorities to halt the prosecution against Sultanyan. ‘It is not incitement to hatred or violence to raise human rights concerns about the treatment of minorities,’ the three UN Special Rapporteurs wrote in an announcement published by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. ‘Nor are minorities such as the Yazidis a threat to national security’.

According to them, the charges, ‘appear designed simply to intimidate Mr Sultanyan and others who stand up for minority rights.’

On the other hand, Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, appealed to Armenia’s Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, calling on him to drop the charges against Sultanyan.

‘Fighting national and ethnic hatred is the key priority for any government, but it is not achieved through criminalizing or otherwise violating the rights of those who speak out on matters of sensitivity’, the letter addressed to Davtyan reads. ‘Although it is fair to disagree with the statements Sultanyan made in his interview, or to challenge their accuracy, subjecting them to criminal investigation violates Armenia’s obligations to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression’.

The response sent by the Prosecutor General’s Office rebuffed the accusations, and stated that the prosecution was ‘initiated according to national and international norms.’

‘The circumstance of initiating criminal prosecution against Sashik Sultanyan can't be interpreted as repression of freedom of speech or interference in his human rights defender's activity’, the letter reads.

Earlier, Sashik Sultanyan on Qahana.am website had called on Yesaye Artenyan, servant of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church Araratian Patriarchal Diocese, to apologize to the Yazidis for insulting their religious feelings. This again caused Sultanyan to have serious problems with the Armenian authorities. (source)

As can be seen, the origin of the Yazidi problem in Armenia, which came to light with Sashik Sultanyan, dates back to years, even centuries. This proves that the Yazidis in Armenia, which is a one-nation state, have always been discriminated against, humiliated and severely forced to migrate.