ArmInfo. The terrorist organization "Islamic State", which committed genocide against the Yazidis in 2014, was not alone; Turkiye stood behind it, stated opposition MP Gegham Manukyan, commenting on the presented draft amendments to the law "On Holidays and Memorable Dates", according to which annually on August 3 Armenia will mark the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Yazidi Genocide in Iraqi Sinjar.
According to the deputy, a number of IS bases are located in Turkiye. The West also played an important role in its creation, in order to direct the armed groups of the Islamic State against the legitimate government of Syria. The deputy noted that in November 2006, taking part in a major international forum, looking into the eyes of the President of Turkiye, he called for recognizing the fact of the Armenian Genocide. "Who would have thought that after so many years, "thanks" to the policies of the current authorities, we would question the fact of the Armenian Genocide," the parliamentarian said.
According to the bill presented by National Assembly deputy from the ruling Civil Contract faction Rustam Bakoyan, from now on annually on August 3 the country will celebrate the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Yazidi Genocide. The deputy emphasized that several dozen countries have recognized this fact, but in Armenia for the first time it will be regulated at the legislative level. Thus, the speaker continued, Armenia will join the states in order to prevent the commission of such crimes in the future at the international level.
The genocide of the Yazidi population in the city of Sinjar in northern Iraq was carried out by the Islamic State group in 2014. It manifested itself in the expulsion of the Yazidis, their massacres, and the abduction of Yazidi women. IS's actions against the Yazidis have become known as the "forced conversion campaign." About 50 thousand Yazidis became refugees, and several thousand more died. Earlier, in 2018, the Armenian parliament recognized the genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq, and in 2015, on the 100th anniversary of the Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, it adopted a resolution recognizing the genocide of the Greeks and Assyrians.