The bill on “Condemning the genocidal acts committed against the Yezidi people living in the Iraqi territories controlled by terrorist groups” was submitted to the National Assembly by Republican MPs Rustam Makhmudyan, Armen Ashotyan and Vahram Baghdasaryan. The statement concerns the condemnation of the Yezidis genocide in northern Iraq in 2014. The bill, by the way, notes that the Yezidis genocide was committed by terrorist groups.
Presenting the Committee’s view, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Armen Ashotyan said, that the problems posed by this declaration, are humanitarian and universal: “Armenian people are victims of genocide too, and as a genocide survivor, we know that grief, sorrow and we ourselves are trying to heal our scars. Tens of thousands of national minorities, including the Yezidis, live in the Republic of Armenia as full citizens, and historical and military injustice, crime against them must receive a clear response. No less important is the fact that Armenia as a state evaluates similar phenomena”.
Member of the Republican Party Samvel Farmanyan said that a question arises about the bill, whether how it is possible to commit genocide in the 21st century under the Convention on the Prevention of Punishment of genocide, and not to have the responsibility of the circles planning and committing that. The reason is that the area where the genocidal acts took place, Iraq and Syria did not ratify the Rome Statute, which would enable the implementation of criminal prosecutions and would charge accusations against specific circles who committed the worst crimes.
Head of the ARF faction Armen Rustamyan recalled: “That time, Young Turks called Armenians as gyavurs. Gyavur means unbeliever, in that sense they did the same thing in different places, considering them unbelievers. If there is any genocidal act, regardless of time, territory and place, it is genocide”.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
