Thursday, August 28 2014

 Azerbaijan's stand on Yazidis of Iraq describes it as a Nazi country, NKR President's Spokesperson David Babayan told ArmInfo, when commenting on Azerbaijan's calls for OSCE to respond to settlement of Yazidis in Nagorno Karabakh.

"They prefer further genocide of Yazidis to their rescue, even if few people somehow manage to reach Nagorno Karabakh," Babayan said. In this light, he said, the world community must impose sanctions on Azerbaijan after such statements. "Azerbaijan's statement actually means continuation of the genocide of Yazidis," he said.

According to Babayan,  Artsakh has already expressed its political stand on the given issue.  "We think genocide of the Yazidi people is happening now. The world community and relevant bodies must respond immediately. We believe that Yazidis are part of the Armenian people and they went through all the difficulties as we did. We have had a common fate, at least, over the last centuries. That is why, what is happening to Yazidis is qualified as genocide, and genocide of Yazidis is genocide of Armenians. This is what we think on the issue. We have already expressed our readiness to help them as much as we can," Babayan said.

Earlier today, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's Spokesman, Elman Abdullayev said Azerbaijan urges the OSCE Minsk Group to sharply respond to "the illegal placement of Kurdish Yazidis in the occupied region of Nagorno-Karabakh."  "Such attempts and actions impede the negotiation process over Nagorno- Karabakh, and are contrary to the Fourth Geneva Convention," Abdullayev said.

To recall, Aziz Tamoyan, Head of the Yezidi Community in Armenia, told ArmInfo the World Union of Yezidis has decided to settle in Artsakh 200 Yezidi families suffering persecutions and violence by Islamic militants.

On 15 August, Armenia's Foreign Ministry reported the Government will send humanitarian aid in the amount of $50,000 to the Iraqi Yazidis that fled their homes to avoid extermination by ISIS militants.  Later, on 18 August, Armen Saghatelyan, Spokesperson of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said the president charged diplomatic missions abroad to redouble efforts towards settlement of the given problem.  The president and prime minister mull to increase the envisaged humanitarian aid to the Iraqi Yazidis. The issue of humanitarian aid will be settled in a few days, he said.