Kurdish-Armenian relations - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kurdish-Armenian relations covers the historical relations between the Kurds

Kurdish people

The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...

and the Armenians

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

Ancient Armenia and Corduene

Ancient Corduene

Corduene

Corduene was an ancient region located in northern Mesopotamia and modern day Kurdish inhabited south east Turkey. It was a province of the Greater Armenia. It was referred to by the Greeks as Karduchia and by both the Greeks and Romans as Corduene...

, identified as Kurdistan in some sources was twice incorporated into the Kingdom of Armenia. The first period was in the first century BCE from 90 to 66 BCE as a vassal kingdom of Armenia. Corduene was then incorporated in the Roman Republic and remained in Roman hands for more than four centuries. In the late fourth century CE, it became a part of Armenia for the second time (in 384) and remained as such until 428 CE. Its area was much smaller than what is now called Kurdistan, and was mainly concentrated in the south of Lake Van and around Diyarbakir.

Armenians referred to the inhabitants of Corduene as Kordukh. This name found its way into Greek documents and Xenophon

Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...

used the Hellenized form of the name, Karduchoi (Kαρδoύχoι). According to Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

, the region of Corduene (Γορδυηνή, also Γoρδυαία όρη "Gordyaean Mts.") referred to the mountains between Diyarbakir and Mush. It is argued that Greeks learned this term (Karduchoi) from Armenians, since the termination -χoι represents the Armenian plural in -kh.

Islamic conquest

Kurds and Armenians became increasingly distinct, both culturally and politically, as Armenians chose Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

as their official religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

while Kurds, later, chose Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. This difference in religion also signified a distancing of mentalities, with Armenians

Armenians

opening up to Western/European values instead of the Eastern and traditionally Islamic values and lifestyle adopted by Kurds.

Although most Armenians stayed Christian, some converted to Islam because of the favourable status given to Muslims under Turkish rule. The Armenians of Vaspurakan

Vaspurakan

Vaspurakan was the first and biggest province of Greater Armenia, which later became an independent kingdom during the Middle Ages, centered around Lake Van...

who converted to Islam, gradually assimilated into Kurdish culture over time. This is likely to have occurred elsewhere as well, and probably accounts for the comparatively low census of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century, as compared to the Middle Ages, alongside other factors, such as selective recording, extermination and migration.

Toward the 11th century the nomadic Turkic tribes from Central Asia moved towards the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

and Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

and further altered the ethnic mix at the expense of the local populations of Kurds, Armenians

Armenians

, and other natives.

Ottoman Empire

However, Kurds found some degree of friendship in these new immigrants from Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

. Armenians and Kurds lived in separate villages and city quarters.

Until the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829 there hadn' been hostile feeling between the Kurds and the Armenians, and as late as 1877-1878 the mountaineers of both ethnic groups had co-existed fairly well together. Although the central Ottoman government, Kurds and Armenians lived in peace for many years. . C. B.

Shaikh Obaidullah, 1880-1881

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 was followed by the attempt of Sheikh Obaidullah in 1880 - 1881 to found an independent Kurd principality under the protection of Ottoman Empire. The attempt was first encouraged by the Sultan as a reply to the projected creation of an Armenian state under the suzerainty of Russia. However, it collapsed after Obaidullah's raid into Persia, when various circumstances led the central government to reassert its supreme authority.

Hamidian period

In 1891, the activity of the Armenian Committees induced the Porte to strengthen the position of the Kurds by raising a body of Kurdish irregular cavalry, which was well-armed and called Hamidieh after the Sultan Abdul Hamid II

Abdul Hamid II

His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...

. The system of double taxation sparked new found enmity between Turkish chieftains (aga) and the Armenians and Kurds agrarian community who perceived Kurdish taxation as exploitation. When Armenian spokesmen confronted the Turkish aga, it brought about enmity between both populations, during which the events at Sason

Sason

Sason is a district in the Batman Province of Turkey. It was formerly part of the sanjak of Siirt, which was in Diyarbakır vilayet until 1880 and in Bitlis vilayet in 1892. Later it became part of Muş sanjak in Bitlis vilayet, and remained part of Muş until 1927...

and Moush 1893 occurred.

At the turn of the 20th century, most Armenians were peasants who were exploited and oppressed by their Turkish feudal Bey

Bey

Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...

s. According to the Russian vice-consul Tumanskii, Armenian peasants were treated as serf

SERF

A spin exchange relaxation-free magnetometer is a type of magnetometer developed at Princeton University in the early 2000s. SERF magnetometers measure magnetic fields by using lasers to detect the interaction between alkali metal atoms in a vapor and the magnetic field.The name for the technique...

s attached to some Turkish chief. They were sold as property, and in case of a Kurd killing a serf, the latter's master took revenge by killing a serf belonging to the murderer.

Sasun Resistance, 1894

In 1894, the ARF participated in the First Sasun Resistance, supplying arms to the local population to help the people of Sasun defend themselves against the Hamidian purges. Thousands of Armenians were killed by Ottoman troops and Kurdish tribesmen, when the Armenians began their struggle for autonomy in 1894. In the summer of 1894, armed Armenian peasants resisted an attack by the Kurds. Then "Hamidieh" regiments and regular troops from Bitlis

Bitlis

Bitlis is a town in eastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The town is located at an elevation of 1,400 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis River, a tributary of the Tigris. The local economy is mainly based on agricultural products which include...

and Muş Province

Mus Province

Muş Province is a province in eastern Turkey. It is 8,196 km² in area, and has a population of 406,886 . The population was 453,654 in 2000. The provincial capital is the city of Muş...

, who joined by the Fourth Army Corps, were sent to the Armenian regions around Sason, and began an operation which lasted 23 days from August 18 to September 10. The troops massacred at least 8,000 Armenians.

Defense of Van, 1896

In June 1896, the Defense of Van

Defense of Van

The 1896 Defense of Van or Van Rebellion was an act of self-defense by the Armenian population in Van against the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire in June 1896.- Background :...

in the province of Van

Van, Turkey

Van is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of the Kurdish-majority Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city's official population in 2010 was 367,419, but many estimates put this as much higher with a 1996 estimate stating 500,000 and former Mayor Burhan...

was organised while "Hamidieh" regiments were about to attack the city. All the able-bodied Armenian men of Van rose with weapons and protected the civilians from attack and subsequent massacre.

Chieftain of Zelian, 1896

The Kurdish chieftain of Zelian, with his army of three or four thousand Kurds, launched an attack on the Armenian villages. The Ottoman governor reported to the Sultan that Sheikh

Sheikh

Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...

of Zeilan was being attacked by the Armenians.

Minor disturbances constantly occurred, and were soon followed by the massacre of Armenians at other places, during 1894 - 1896, in which Kurds took an active part. These events led to the devastation of five Armenian villages and the region of Talori (Dalvorikh). The events at Sason were the beginning of a long series of Armenian demonstrations and their suppression by the Kurds.

Khanasor Expedition, 1897

The Khanasor Expedition

Khanasor Expedition

The Khanasor Expedition was an attack by an Armenian irregular unit against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe on July 25, 1897. In 1896, in the aftermath of the Defense of Van, the Mazrik tribe had ambushed and slaughtered many of the Armenian defenders of Van as they were retreating into Persia...

was undertaken against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe on July 25, 1897. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation had decided to retaliate after the Ottoman-hired Mazrik tribe had ambushed and slaughtered a squad of Armenian defenders during the 1896 Defense of Van

Defense of Van

The 1896 Defense of Van or Van Rebellion was an act of self-defense by the Armenian population in Van against the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire in June 1896.- Background :...

World War I

During the Armenian patriotic movement of the late 19th century, the Ottoman Muslims of Eastern Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

, who happened to be mostly Kurdish, were the main enemies of the Armenian patriots. The formation of the Armenian patriotic movement began roughly around the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1878 and intensified with the introduction of Article 166 of the Ottoman Penal Code and the raid of Erzerum Cathedral. Article 166 was meant to control the possession of arms, but was used to target Armenians by restricting their possession of arms. Local Kurdish tribes were armed to attack the Armenian population. These mass killings clearly were a first step towards the Armenian Genocide

Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...

Turkish War of Independence

In the aftermath of the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the Entente Powers

Triple Entente

The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....

proposed to divide up its Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

n lands in the Treaty of Sèvres

Treaty of Sèvres

The Treaty of Sèvres was the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany before this treaty to annul the German concessions including the economic rights and enterprises. Also, France, Great Britain and Italy...

. Among other things, the full application of the treaty would have led to the expansion of the Democratic Republic of Armenia

Democratic Republic of Armenia

The Democratic Republic of Armenia was the first modern establishment of an Armenian state...

to include regions such as Bitlis

Bitlis Province

Bitlis Province is a province of eastern Turkey, located to the west of Lake Van.-History:Bitlis was formed as an administrative district in the 17th Century...

, Van

Van, Turkey

, Erzurum

Erzurum Province

Erzurum Province is a Province of Turkey, in the Eastern Anatolia Region of the country. It is bordered by the provinces of Kars and Ağrı to the east, Muş and Bingöl to the south, Erzincan and Bayburt to the west, Rize and Artvin to the north and Ardahan to the northeast. The provincial capital is...

and Trabzon

Trabzon Province

Trabzon Province is a province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Located in a strategically important region, Trabzon is one of the oldest trade port cities in Anatolia. Neighbouring provinces are Giresun to the west, Gümüşhane to the southwest, Bayburt to the southeast and Rize to the east. The...

while granting local autonomy to the Kurdish inhabited areas east of the Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

river and to the south of Armenia. Sharif Pasha, the Kurdish representative in the Paris Peace Conference

Paris Peace Conference, 1919

The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...

, reached an agreement with the Armenian representatives on December 20, 1919, and both parties made joint declarations to the conference.

However, Turkish revolutionaries led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....

rejected the treaty as "unacceptable" and fought for total control of all of Anatolia in the Turkish War of Independence

Turkish War of Independence

The Turkish War of Independence was a war of independence waged by Turkish nationalists against the Allies, after the country was partitioned by the Allies following the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I...

, alongside the Kurds. The Sèvres treaty was then succeeded and replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne

Treaty of Lausanne

The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that settled the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty of Lausanne was ratified by the Greek government on 11 February 1924, by the Turkish government on 31...

which established, roughly, the present-day borders of the Republic of Turkey. The Lausanne treaty not only dashed any hope of an independent Kurdish state but also did not confer upon the Kurdish people the minority status (and its entailed rights) given to Greeks

Greeks in Turkey

The Greeks in Turkey constitute a population of Greek and Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians who mostly live in Istanbul, including its district Princes' Islands, as well as on the two islands of the western entrance to the Dardanelles: Imbros and Tenedos .They are the remnants of the...

, Armenians

Armenians in Turkey

Armenians in Turkey have an estimated population of 40,000 to 70,000 . Most are concentrated around Istanbul. The Armenians support their own newspapers and schools...

, Assyrians

Assyrians in Turkey

Arameans in Turkey were once a large ethnic minority in the Ottoman Empire, but following the Syriac Genocide, many were murdered or emigrated. Now, they live in small numbers in eastern Turkey and Istanbul.-Ottoman era:...

and Jews.

Republic of Ararat

A series of Kurdish rebellions against Turkey throughout the 1920s culminated in the temporary establishment of the Republic of Ararat

Republic of Ararat

The Republic of Ararat or Kurdish Republic of Ararat was a self-proclaimed Kurdish state. It was located in the northeasten part of modern Turkey, being centered on Karaköse Province...

in 1927, located in the province of Ağrı

Agri Province

The Ağrı Province is a province in eastern Turkey, bordering Iran to the east, Kars to the North, Erzurum to the Northwest, Muş and Bitlis to the Southwest, Van to the south, and Iğdır to the northeast. Area 11,376 km². Population 542,022 ....

, near the border of Soviet Armenia

Armenian SSR

The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet...

. Without recognition or foreign backing, however, the state ended up being defeated by Turkish government who resumed control over the region. The Ararat movement was led by Xoybûn, a Kurdish political party which held its founding congress in August 1927 in Bihamdun, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. An Armenian Dashnak leader, Vahan Papazyan, attended the meeting "as a symbol of the alliance between Armenians and Kurds."

PKK

More Kurdish rebellions would occur throughout the region. The most violent were those by the Kurdistan Workers Party

Kurdistan Workers Party

The Kurdistan Workers' Party , commonly known as PKK, also known as KGK and formerly known as KADEK or KONGRA-GEL , is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political rights...

(or the PKK) that was founded in 1978. The war between the PKK and the Turkish government, which spanned the 1980s through the 1990s, caused numerous deaths and internally displaced persons

Refugee

A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...

on the Kurdish side.

During the Turkey-PKK war, a photograph showing PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan

Abdullah Öcalan , Kurdish founder of the terrorist organization called Kurdistan Workers' Party in 1978.Öcalan was captured in Nairobi and extradited to the Turkish security force, and sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed gangs...

with M. Yohanna, the Syriac Orthodox

Syriac Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....

bishop of Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

, was used by two Turkish newspapers Tercüman and Sabah
Sabah (newspaper)
Sabah is a popular Turkish daily newspaper, with a circulation of around 330,000 as of 2011. Its name means "morning" in the Turkish language originating from Arabic...

in 1994 to try and prove that Turkey's Armenian community and church were openly supporting and collaborating with the PKK. In May 1994, the newspaper Özgür Ülke (Free Country; the successor of the pro-Kurdish publication Özgür Gündem) released the correct information regarding the photograph and stated that it was taken during an open March 1993 meeting between Yohanna and the PKK which was covered by the Kurdish news agency Kurdha and the magazine Özgür Halk (Free People). They said that it was found by Turkish security forces during a search in the rooms of the agency Özgür Gündem. The Turkish media also claimed that Armenia was hosting PKK training camps, though these allegations were proven to be untrue.

Some Kurds in a struggle against Turkey began to identify themselves with the Armenians, the very people whom they were encouraged by the Ottoman government to oppress. Today, Turks of Armenian and Kurdish ethnicity coexist in peace. The PKK leadership has recognized the Armenian Genocide

Kurdish recognition of the Armenian genocide

Kurdish recognition of the Armenian Genocide is the recognition of the Kurdish participation in the ethnic cleansing of Armenians during World War I, when Kurdish tribal forces attacked and killed Armenian civilians and refugees.In several of the Kurdish regions, the Kurds participated in the...

and apologized for Kurdish involvement. There have also been seminars held by Armenian and Kurdish groups to discuss both the Genocide and Turkey.

PKK-ASALA

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a Marxist-Leninist

Marxism-Leninism

Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...

organization whose primary objective was "to compel the Turkish Government to acknowledge publicly its alleged responsibility for the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians

Armenian Genocide

in 1915, pay reparations, and cede territory for an Armenian homeland". PKK and ASALA

Asala

Asala may refer to:* Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization.* Asalah Nasri, Syrian singer* Al Asalah, a Salafist political party in Bahrain...

held a press conference on April 8, 1980 in Sidon which declared their cooperation, that resulted with the Strasbourg, November 9, 1980, and Rome, November 19, 1980 activities of ASALA

Asala

Asala may refer to:* Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization.* Asalah Nasri, Syrian singer* Al Asalah, a Salafist political party in Bahrain...

and PKK cooperation. However, after July 1983, ASALA disappeared in the Lebanese Beqaa Valley

Beqaa Valley

The Beqaa Valley is a fertile valley in east Lebanon. For the Romans, the Beqaa Valley was a major agricultural source, and today it remains Lebanon’s most important farming region...

that PKK established its camps. Both ASALA and PKK were rumored to have been brainchildren of a Soviet Armenian

Armenian SSR

KGB

The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

officer Karen Brutents. Since pro-Soviet Armenians had participated in the founding of an anti-Turkish Kurdish party already in 1927, the theories, arguments, propaganda methods and activity structures were time tested.

Kurds in Armenia

During the period of Stalinist ethnic cleansing

Stalinism

Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...

in 1937, the Kurds of Armenia became victims of forced migrations.

Soviet era

Kurdish culture flourished in Soviet Armenia between 1930s and 1980s, and Kurds enjoyed substantial state-sponsored cultural support. There was a Kurdish radio broadcast from Yerevan

Yerevan

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...

. The pioneers of modern Kurdish literature and culture were mainly Yazidis who were immigrants from Turkey. The famous Kurdish writers in this period include Casimê Celîl, Emînê Evdal, Kurdoev, Arab Shamilov

Arab Shamilov

Arab Shamilov , , was a Kurdish novelist. He was born in the city of Kars in a Yazidi family in present-day north-eastern Turkey. During the World War I, from 1914 to 1917, he served as an interpreter for the Russian army. Later on, he became a member of the central committee of the Armenia's...

and Jalile Jalil

Jalile Jalil

Jalile Jalil , is a Kurdish historian, writer and Kurdologist. He was born in Yerevan and studied history at the university of Yerevan and Oriental Academy of Leningrad. He wrote his thesis regarding the Kurdish rebellions in 19th century. He received his PhD in 1963, and worked in the Academy of...

. The renowned Kurdish newspaper Riya Teze, published in Yerevan

Yerevan

, is among the oldest Kurdish newspapers. It is the organ of the Kurdish section of the Communist Party of Armenia.
Many Armenian literary works were translated into Kurdish by translators such as C. Celîl, H. Cindî, E. Evdal, Q. Murad, N. Esed and T. Murad. The first Kurdish novel was written by Shamilov in 1935. In recent years, many Kurds have left Armenia due to an unfavorable nationalist environment especially after the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Kurdish departments in Armenia

In 1969, The Armenian Academy of Sciences founded a Kurdish Studies Department to document and to research all aspects of Kurdish culture but also to study Armenian and Kurdish relations.
One of the first Kurdish newspapers was actually established and published in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. The newspaper was called Riya Teze (Kurdish: The new road). Later on, another Kurdish newspaper was founded called Botan that was published once every two weeks.

Armenian radio station Denge Erivan (The sound of Yerevan) broadcast in Kurdish for one hour a day, drawing an audience of ethnic Kurds from southeast Turkey. One author writes that he had a childhood friend who was taunted in school for listening to it in the sixties.

Armenia's Yazidi Kurdish minority

According to the 2001 Census, there are about 40,620 Yazidis in Armenia. According to a 2007 U.S. Department of State human rights report

United States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are publications on the annual human right conditions in countries and regions outside the United States, submitted annually by the United States Department of State to the United States Congress. The reports cover internationally recognized individual,...

, "As in previous years, Yezidi leaders did not complain that police and local authorities subjected their community to discrimination".
A high percentage of Yezidi children do not attend school, both due to poverty and a lack of teachers who speak their native language. However, the first ever Yezidi school opened in Armenia in 1920. Due to the ethnic tension created by the war with Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

, the Yazidi community has renounced its ties with the mostly Muslim Kurds that fled the country and tried to establish itself as a distinct ethnic group. The Yezidis showed great patriotism fighting with Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh war

Nagorno-Karabakh War

The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...

, when many died in service.

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