In Armenia, 3 August has been declared the official day of remembrance for the victims of the genocide against the Yazidi community. A corresponding bill by the Yazidi MP Rustam Bakoyan was adopted on Tuesday in the Armenian parliament. Bakoyan spoke of a historic decision and said that the Republic of Armenia was the first country in the world to officially declare 3 August a day of remembrance. Almost ten years have passed since the massacre of the Yazidi population in Shengal carried out by the Islamic State, but the genocide continues to this day.

“Genocide is a crime against humanity and the greatest crime of all,” said the deputy when presenting the bill in parliament. “It is a direct consequence of the false and inappropriate condemnation of the Armenian genocide in 1915. The fate of the Armenians and Yazidis are very similar and have always overlapped. In different phases of history, we have often found ourselves in the same situations."

The genocide of the Yazidi community in Shengal was recognized and condemned by the Armenian National Assembly factions in 2015 and by the National Assembly in 2018. "Preventing genocide and crimes against humanity is one of the priorities of Armenia's foreign policy," said Armenian deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan, adding that Armenia actively supports measures to prevent and condemn such crimes.

Femicide and genocide in Shengal

On 3 August 2014, ISIS attacked the Shengal region of Iraq with the aim of wiping out one of the oldest religious communities: the Yazidis. Through the systematic massacre, rape, torture, expulsion, enslavement of girls and women and the forced recruitment of boys as child soldiers, the Yazidi community experienced the 74th genocide in its history. According to recent estimates, around 10,000 people fell victim to massacres, and more than 400,000 others were driven from their homes. Over 7,000 women and children were abducted and 2,500 of them are still missing today. Therefore, this genocide in its form also represents a femicide.

“There is a threat of a continuation of the genocide”

The massacre was recognized as genocide by the German Bundestag in January 2023. In the adopted resolution, the Bundestag called on the Federal Government to promote the existing international and national structures for political and legal processing of the genocide and to consistently carry out and expand the legal prosecution of ISIS perpetrators in Germany. Yazidi associations in Germany reiterated this demand in an open letter a few days ago and warned against a planned Turkish invasion of the Shengal region. “Erdoğan is planning occupation - there is a threat of a continuation of the genocide” is the title of an appeal addressed to states, governments, parties and human rights organizations, which was signed by eight Yazidi interest groups.