Armenia recognizes massacres of Yazidis in Iraq as genocide

YEREVAN, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Armenia voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recognize the massacres of Yazidis which occurred in Iraq in 2014 as genocide.

The Armenian parliament issued a statement which "recognizes and condemns the genocide committed against the Yazidi people in Iraq's territories occupied by terrorist groups in 2014."

The assembly urged the international community to provide humanitarian aid security to the Yazidi people, a Kurdish religious minority.

Expressing support to the Iraqi people and government, the assembly also called on the international community to thoroughly investigate the atrocities by proper international organizations and bring the perpetrators of those crimes to justice.

In 2014 in the Sinjar province of northern Iraq, about 2,000 to 4,000 Yazidis were seized and reportedly killed by the group "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant," while about 50,000 Yezidis were forced to leave their homes.

Yazidis mainly live in Iraq, Syria, Germany, Russia and Armenia. There are about 35,000 Yazidis in Armenia.

As monotheists, the Yazidis have a religion called Yazidism based on Zoroastrianism with elements of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Enditem